Till The End of The Line
by FinalFantasyObsessive
Summary: Anna Cohen wanted to do her part in the war effort as a nurse, she didn't think for a second she'd be a part of Easy Company nor would she be trained to jump out of a plane. But Colonel Sink believes she and a small group of nurses are ready for the challenge, even if the rest of the Airborne do not, but Anna and Co. are not about to give up on this chance to prove themselves.
1. Embrace the Past

Disclaimer: Hi, I own don't any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

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Till the End of the Line

Chapter 1: Embrace the Past

26th December 1941: San Francisco 

For three years we had all been hearing the reports coming out of Europe as the war seemingly raged on while we carried on. Many had the opinion that the US should intervene and help our allies defeat the Germans like we had in 1917, others were not so happy if we did decide to get involved. But that all changed nineteen days ago when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, Dad has said this was a turning point in the war, that we could no longer be neutral and he was right.

"You can't be serious?" George my younger brother hissed, I'd decided I was going to do something to help out in the war. When I was eighteen I'd started training as a nurse and I'd never turn back and change a thing about it. Five years later and I was confident and happy in my position as a staff nurse on the general surgery ward at St Francis Memorial Hospital.

"What? I'm a nurse why shouldn't I help the war effort?" I replied I knew he was probably just a bit afraid that if I did go through with this I could end up shipped halfway around the world and he'd never see me again. Granted when he decided to join the Airforce a couple of days ago, I didn't have any objections even though he'd just barely turned eighteen and hadn't even gotten a proper job yet. He'd been doing the odd job for Dad at the garage while taxing me back and forth to the hospital, not that I minded the extra lifts.

"Is this because of Liebgott?" he asked Joe and his family had moved down the street from us when I was about six, and had started hanging around with my older brother David. The two of them would cause all sorts of trouble and more than one time Dad would have to bribe the neighbours so they wouldn't get into so much trouble. Unfortunately David was killed a couple of years after Joe had arrived in the neighbourhood, we'd all been playing around on the street, David had been stood in the middle of the street when a car came speeding down and knocked him down. By the time he'd been taken to the nearest hospital it was too late.

"George I'm not doing this for anybody but myself. Besides you're going off to war, why can't I?" I explained there was no other reason than to help out. If I sat at home and just listened to the amount of casualties and deaths, I'd feel as though I'd have let everyone down.

"Anna this is different."

"How so? Cause you're a man?" I asked the amount of people that didn't think it was a woman's place to be in the war was ridiculous. What did they think was happening in places that were being bombed day in day out? Did they think it didn't affect the women? Most of the men enlisting were enlisting to fight, not to become medics. The war effort needed nurses, needed women to take over the jobs left empty, the war effort needed every able body that they could get.

"Annie…"

"Don't Annie me, look I'm signing up and that's final. There ain't anything you can do about it." I said and I meant it, no matter how many people told me that I wouldn't be cut out for it, or that it was gruesome, I was still going to go and make sure that as many men were returned safely to their families. It was the least I could do, I'd already seen first-hand what it was like to lose a brother and seen how badly it had affected my mother, all I wanted was a chance to make sure that as many mothers were not left without their sons.

"Dad is going to kill me." He muttered I'm not sure exactly why he thought Dad would kill him and not me, maybe he thought it was his responsibility to talk me out of joining since he is the oldest son.

"He ain't, he's actually quite proud, mum on the other hand is not." I replied his brows furrowed if he hadn't been driving I'm sure he'd have had a larger reaction.

"They already know?"

"Yeah they do, why didn't you tell them you were signing up?" I answered I mean it was one thing me telling them that I was just thinking about joining the Army Nurse Corps, but he'd actually signed up for the Airforce and he couldn't take that back now.

"No, I haven't told them yet."

"Oh you're going to be in so much trouble!" I exclaimed even though I knew full well that Dad would probably be incredibly proud of him, I couldn't resist the urge to wind him up.

"If dad is proud of you…"

"To be honest, dad is going to be proud of you. Hell I'm proud of you, mum on the other hand is going to be so upset." I explained he relaxed a bit more, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, maybe he'd been thinking about what they'd say about it all day. Maybe for the entire journey he'd been mulling it over, going over exactly what he was going to say to them. Hell I'd done the same thing when I was telling them I was thinking about signing up.

"Yeah especially if she's sending two kids to war." He added I knew there was a high possibility one or even both of us may not return home, but I pushed that thought to the back of my mind.

"She's still got four other kids to look after."

"True, but still she ain't going to like it either way." He agreed as he pulled into our road before parking right outside our front door. "Finally back home."

"Thanks again for the lift."

"Eh nothing to worry about." He replied as we both exited the car. "You know you could drive yourself if you ever learn how to."

"Yeah I could but I do like looking out at the scenery." I replied it was nice to just sit and watch the world pass by without having to worry about concentrating on the road and making sure you didn't crash into anything.

"And dad doesn't really want you behind the wheel." George added I mean dad wanted us all to be safe and of course driving can be very dangerous, especially if you're not confident.

"Well he took me out once…it didn't go well but I'm sure if he actually taught me I'd be totally fine." The last time dad had taken me out was shortly after George had gotten his license, it was all going fine until I oversteered at one point and nearly ended up crashing into a wall.

"Or you know you'd drive us all into the neighbour's wall." He joked as he slowly started walking up the steps to the front door.

"Hey! I did not drive into a wall."

"You nearly did."

"Whatever." I grumbled as I passed him my front door key as he looked as if he was trouble locating his.

"Besides it would take away your excuse to get lifts off of Joe." He added waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. Joe and I were just friends; it was kind of him to offer me lifts to work every now and then before he'd then start his rounds in his taxi.

"He offers I just politely accept."

"Yeah sure, whatever you say. Speaking of the devil, hi Joe." George stopped opening the door and raised a hand in greeting Joe who was just walking up the road behind me. I turned round and greeted him too.

"Did I miss something?" he asked stopping at the bottom of our steps, he would occasionally go out on walks around the neighbourhood after his shifts.

"Nothing." I replied glancing back at George who had a smug look on his face.

"Yeah right."

"Cut it out." I said hitting him on the arm which just served to make him laugh; Joe who was still standing at the bottom of the steps shook his head and chuckled.

"I'm getting inside; mum's cooked up a storm, you joining us Joe?" George asked as he finally stepped inside the house, opening the door wide.

"No I couldn't, I'd feel like I was intruding." He replied stepping back off the steps as if he were about to leave.

"Ah she won't mind." I responded mum always cooked too much food to feed us all and was extremely welcoming if company was brought round, even if she had no prior warning. "She always says the more the merrier."

"You're sure?" he asked stepping back on to the steps, of course she wouldn't mind Joe joining us for dinner. He'd come round many a time when we were kids, he didn't come around as often anymore, but mum wouldn't mind if he joined us tonight.

"Yeah." I replied ushering him to come up to the door, which he finally did. "Besides it's not like we've brought in a complete stranger off the street."

"Do that often?" he asked jokingly.

"No."

"Come on you two, you're letting a draught into the house." George complained from the hallway, I entered the house followed by Joe who closed the door. I took off my coat and scarf hanging them up on the coat stand in the hallway before offering to take Joe's coat.

"Ah Joe will you be joining us?" Mum came out of the dining room; no doubt George had immediately gone into get food and informed her of Joe's arrival.

"If it's not much trouble." He replied as he handed me his coat and scarf to hang up.

"Not at all the more the merrier." She replied smilingly widely and ushering him towards the dining room. I think even if we did bring a stranger off the street to dinner, mum would always welcome them like a long lost friend.

"Thank you Mrs Cohen."

"No need for formalities Joe, Sarah will do fine." Mum said as she let Joe pass by her and into the dining room as I was about to go through she stopped me. "Ah, now Anna go upstairs and wash up. I will not have you eat at the table in work clothes."

"Yes mum." I said begrudgingly as I looked at the table full of food that I'd have to wait a little bit longer to get. I hurriedly ran up the stairs and flung open the door to my bedroom, unclipping my hair out of the bun I'd put it in this morning. I kicked off my work shoes as I grabbed my brush and quickly brushed through the tangles of my curly brown hair. I sighed as I caught a glimpse of what I looked like in the mirror, worn out with hair sticking out in odd directions. My stomach growled and so I opened my wardrobe and grabbed a plain blue dress and a pair of stockings before running to the bathroom to change. I threw on a pair of shoes and once I was happy that I at least looked presentable I ran down the stairs and into the dining room, taking the last seat in between my two younger sisters opposite Joe, who was wedged between my brothers. I helped myself to the food that was on offer and began to tuck in.

"George was just telling us how he's enlisted to the Airforce." Dad started conversing I looked over at George who looked pleased with himself, it must have gone well, even if mum didn't look to happy about it. "And Anna is thinking of joining the Army Nurse Corps aren't you?"

"Yes and I think I definitely will sign up." I replied after swallowing a mouthful of food.

"I can't believe this." Mum sighed dropping her cutlery to her plate; everyone glanced over at her before returning to eating their dinner.

"Well someone has to look out for him over there. If he so much as grazes his knee he thinks he needs to be rushed to A&E." I stated jokingly earning a laugh from everyone at the table except mum and of course George.

"Hey I do not." He whined but in reality it was the truth he was such a drama queen when it came to small injuries and mum made it ten times worse.

"Stop it the pair of you, you're acting worse than children and in front of Joe as well." Mum reprimanded she had yet to pick her cutlery back up and start eating again, the news George had actually enlisted had probably made her sick to her stomach and maybe even a little bit angry.

"Sorry." We both mumbled returning to eating and not saying a word in case it set mum off.

"Joe, are you enlisting?" Dad asked after a minute of two of silence that was just filled with the scraping of cutlery against plates.

"Yes, in fact I've joined the Paratroopers." He replied I looked over at him surprise probably written all over my face. The paratroopers were a completely new section of the armed forces, I'd seen the commercials for enlisting that were played at the cinema or listed in the newspapers. They were meant to jump out of planes and behind enemy lines, completely cut off from help from the other armed units. They were first into the action.

"That's fantastic news, isn't it Sarah." Dad said a smile present on his face clearly very proud of Joe and the rest of us for joining up, even if I hadn't fully enlisted yet.

"Yes David, fantastic news that were sending people off to get killed." Mum replied sarcastically a frown on her face as she placed her napkin on the table. The mood at the table shifted again everyone just glanced at one another not saying a word.

"Sarah." Dad said in a warning tone, the smile had been wiped off of his face at mum's outburst. She couldn't look at him and simply fussed over the baby of our family, my four year old sister, Rose.

"Sorry." She mumbled and that sort of finished the dinner conversation the rest of the meal was pretty much in silence. Dinner finished with everyone leaving the table and moving into the lounge, I helped mum clear the table and wash the dishes.

"You can't be serious can you? Joining the army, Anna you've got a good job here all you need is a good husband." Mum asked as I handed her a clean dish to dry, of course she would bring up marriage. If she'd had her way she would have had me married off at eighteen, but she didn't simply because I'd found my way into my current job.

"Mum…"

"If you go to war you won't find one there." Well I mean she was wrong there, all the young men were off to war surely the odds were stacked that I'd find a husband if I went over with them either to Europe or the war in the Pacific.

"Mum, I ain't going to marry anyone right now." I stated a few nurses in the hospital had been talking about this since war had been declared, how could you marry someone right now if you didn't know whether or not they'd be coming back to you? Sure if you were married to them before all this happened that was different, imagine being newly married and not seeing your husband for months if not years until the war was over, if he managed to make it home.

"Why not? There are plenty of good men that you could meet." She asked as she placed the plate she'd been drying back into the cupboard where it belonged.

"Mum, it ain't about finding a good man. Christ the good men are all going to war and God only knows if all of them will make it back. I got to do something to help them get back here; get back to their lives, their wives, their families." I replied as I let the water drain out of the sink handing her the last clean dish to dry.

"Anna…"

"Sorry to interrupt." Joe had just entered the kitchen holding on to a glass.

"Oh Joe, no need to apologise what do you need?" mum asked a smile replacing the frown she had been wearing for our entire conversation, can't be seen to be moody in front of a guest.

"Just returning this glass." He replied holding up the glass that was in his hand; mum took it from him and passed it to me.

"Ah thank you."

"Ah here you all are I was just thinking a toast is in order." Dad has now joined us in the kitchen, his statement made mum frown instantly and she went for the exit.

"I need to get the kids to bed." She mumbled as she began to exit the room but dad motioned for her to stay.

"After that then dear, we've got to celebrate the moment." He explained smiling at both me and Joe.

"What is there to celebrate David?" she asked clearly all of this was just too much for her, but dad wanted to celebrate and once he had his mind set on something he was going to see it through.

"Sarah it's not every day that our son and daughter are joining the army, not to mention Joe joining the elite Paratroopers." Dad responded at which point Joe went to intervene.

"No need to make a fuss over me, Mr Cohen." He said smiling sheepishly but dad shook his head.

"No, Joe this is an important moment to share, and call me David."

"Fine, after I put the kids to sleep." Mum responded as she finally left to go put the youngest of the Cohen children to bed.

"Great, Anna I'm sure there's a bottle of something around here that we can use." Dad said a bright smile plastered on his face, I opened on of the cupboards that generally hid whatever alcohol dad had stocked and found a bottle wine.

"This do?" I asked holding up the bottle to him I didn't think it was possible that his smile could grow any larger but it did as he accepted the bottle.

"Perfect." He said and with that he went back into the lounge, bottle in hand. "Could you be a dear and bring the glasses."

"Yes Dad." I replied as I opened the cupboard to the glasses and picked out five glasses.

"So you're really enlisting?" Joe asked breaking the silence, I hadn't thought he'd have much of an opinion as to whether I enlisted or I didn't.

"Yeah, and you're really going to throw yourself out of a plane?" I replied joining the Airborne was such a huge deal, a completely new section of the armed forces that would be completely surrounded the enemy when they parachuted behind enemy lines.

"Yeah you know me, always looking for an adventure." He said leaning against the cabinets as I leant back against the sink.

"Yeah right, you're a regular Flash Gordon." I joked earning a chuckle from him.

"Hey you should read them sometime, it's got a great story." He added Flash Gordon was one of, if not the, his favourite comic series. If you go him started on it, he rarely let up and without even reading a single word you would probably already know the full plot line and who said what.

"I think the amount of times you've read excerpts out loud; I already know half the story." I laughed he shook his head though he was still grinning.

"You gotta admit…"

"It's good Joe, I know it's good." I finished for him on the odd occasion that he'd given me a lift to the hospital he'd somehow work in what comic he had read recently or what films were on at the cinema saying he'd love to see the comics make it to the big screen.

"Any man that gets to call you his girl will be a lucky one." He said winking earning him a punch to the arm which he then pretended I'd actually hurt him.

"Don't you start too." I'd had this from mum constantly asking if I'd met any men that could be potential husband material, the girls in work had also been asking since most of them had found someone. I just hadn't had the time to be bothered to truly find someone, not that that was going to change anytime soon since the war started.

"Just saying."

"Yeah, yeah. I ain't got time to find a man."

"Too busy saving the world?" he joked maybe if any of us had a good skill for art we could make a comic of all our adventures. Then maybe Joe could be actual Flash Gordon.

"Damn straight." I laughed even though I meant it, no matter what I was going to go through with whatever training they could throw at me and make it to help the men fight and make it back home safely. I hoped to save as many people as I could possibly save and if I had to help Joe or George at some point I would do my best and make sure the three of us made it home.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything, Dad wants everyone in the lounge for the toast." George said as he came through the kitchen door.

"Alright, grab these glasses for us George." I said as I handed him three of the glasses as Joe and I followed him into the lounger where dad was stood unscrewing the cork out of the wine. Mum was sat on one of the couches a hand massaging her forehead as if she had a bad headache. As we entered dad motioned for her to stand as we formed a small circle George handed mum a glass while keeping a hold of his and dad's, while I handed Joe the second glass in my hand. Once dad had filled each glass he began his little speech.

"This is a momentous occasion that I couldn't be more proud of. All three of you are going to do our country proud." Dad began as everyone stood around with a glass of wine, mum had finally come back from putting the rest of my siblings to bed, she didn't look too pleased but she forced herself to smile, probably for Joe's sake. "Whether it be fighting on the front line or helping those who are wounded, I'm sure each of you will do your best. L'chaim!"

"L'chaim!"

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Author's Notes:

I hope you have enjoyed the first chapter, I had originally written a different story completely for a friend a few year back which focused more on Doc Roe, I wasn't very happy with how that story panned out and since deleted it. A few weeks ago I felt the need to rewatch Band of Brothers again and was so happy I did, I'd originally watched it because I was (and still am) a huge fan of Richard Speight Jr. and would watch everything and anything he was in and so instantly loved Skip. Rewatching again and again I couldn't help loving all the lads, and now even though Skip will still be one of my favourites, right up with him is Liebgott. And I just had to write something, so here it is and I hope you enjoy reading it, I'd love any feedback you have so I can improve it in future chapters/rewrites.


	2. Training Begins

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

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Till the End of the Line

Chapter 2: Training Begins

Camp Toccoa, Georgia, 1942

Training had begun in the spring of 1942, leaving home for the first time had been difficult and moving so far away felt so unbelievably scary and exciting. I didn't know quite what to expect when I got here, I knew I wouldn't know anyone but that hadn't phased me, we'd all be in the same boat with that one. The weather was one thing, it was hot and that was the least of my worries. Training to be a nurse had been difficult; one Matron had been such a moody cow that even if you did something to the letter she'd still find some minor fault. But it made me a better nurse I suppose, it made me make sure everything was completed to a high standard, so I guess having a snappy matron did have its benefits even if I originally couldn't see them.

"Hey seems were the first ones here." I'd been sat on my assigned bunk in our barracks in Toccoa, I was one of the first nurses here out of a possible ten others, when another nurse broke me from my thoughts. "I'm Valerie Kent, but everyone just calls me Val."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Anna, Anna Cohen." I greeted getting up and shaking her hand. She was a good couple of inches taller than me, but I'd been used to people being taller than me after all I was only five foot four. She had blonde hair that was so light it almost looked white which was tied up in the regulation bun with the signature nurse hat pinned on top.

"So where you from?" she asked dropping down onto the bunk next to mine, plonking her bags at the end of the bed. She seemed to be friendly which was a bonus, I guess we were all in the same boat away from our comfort zones with no one we really knew.

"San Fran, you?" I replied she looked amazed, I didn't think it was that impressive although I guess most people don't really think that their home town is impressive until someone from a different place tells you why it is.

"Ah no way, you're far from home. I'm from Tampa so home isn't that far away, but you're on a completely different side of the country." She responded she wasn't that far at home, I mean sure she was in a different state but it wasn't like she was on the other side of the country.

"Well soon we won't even be in the country." I stated the adventure of a lifetime some had called it; well it wasn't every day you could be shipped off to Europe or the Pacific. Not many people I knew could afford to go on a holiday across the country, let alone see a completely new country.

"True, exciting isn't it?" she asked I nodded although it would be exciting to see all new places, this was war and war meant a lot of casualties and a lot of deaths. Something that would forever stay with us as well, I'd read cases of men coming back from the World War completely changed, nightly terrors and a haunted look adorning their faces.

"And a little scary."

"Definitely, so how about we learn a bit more about each other? Since you know we'll be serving together and all that." She asked it would be nice to find out a bit more and like she said we were going to be serving together, better to be friends than to be enemies…not that we would be enemies.

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"How old are you?" she asked of course that would be one of the first questions after of course after introducing yourself.

"Just turned 24 in February, you?" I responded it was at least nice that I didn't have to come all the way to Georgia before my birthday, we'd had a small gathering at the house just close friends and family which also kind of turned into a farewell party too.

"Turning 25 in May, any siblings at home?" At least we'd have some things in common being around the same age, although saying that you could have more things in common with people of variant ages it all depended on the person not the age of them. But it made me feel better that I wasn't going to be the oldest in the see of a bunch of eighteen year olds.

"Got two younger sisters, Rose and Ellen, and three brothers; George, Ronald and Joseph, all younger than me." George of course had joined the Airforce and was training somewhere in Arizona so he was at least closer to home than I was. Ronald had really wanted to enlist he'd just turned seventeen in the New Year however Dad was adamant that he could only join when he was eighteen much to mum's displeasure. Joseph and Ellen were ten and twelve and so there was no way they'd be joining the war effort and of course Rose was only four. If David had still been alive he more than likely would have joined the Army, as a kid he always liked playing with toy soldiers and dreamed to serve his country one day, unfortunately that would never happen.

"So you're the oldest?"

"I am, well after my older brother David unfortunately died." I said her smile immediately dropped off of her face. I shouldn't have really mentioned that, not that it really hurt to think about it much anymore but everyone would always have the same reaction and I just didn't want people feeling sorry for me anymore. "Don't worry it happened a long time ago."

"Oh I'm sorry."

"Thank you, anyway have you got any siblings?" I asked turning back to a more pleasant conversation. Well I mean to some people talking about their annoying siblings wasn't pleasant conversation but it was much better than telling the story of how David died.

"No only child me." She responded which to me seemed rather odd; most people that lived around us at least had two kids. There was only one house on the street we lived in that currently only had one kid inhabiting it and that was because they were a relatively young couple who had just had their first born, a little girl called Alice.

"Must be lonely." I said I couldn't really picture my life without my siblings running around the place. It would be weird if there wasn't always someone yelling about something, whether it was because Joseph had broken something of Ellen's or because George and Ronald had been roughhousing again and knocked over something that had scared Rose.

"Ah at one time I thought so, but i couldn't see a life with five other kids running round the house." She said I'm sure it would be odd if you'd grown up pretty much by yourself and suddenly you had siblings you had to care for unconditionally.

"And I don't think I could imagine being an only child."

"So you married?" she asked I know getting to the age of twenty four and not having a husband or even a fiancé was a bit odd, a lot of my friends had gotten married when they were nineteen and already had at least one kid, but I'd never found the right one.

"No are you?" I responded she shook her head.

"No, never found the right man." She replied maybe we had more in common than I thought. "I mean of course they always think they're the right man for me, but they're always idiots or you know not Jimmy Stewart."

"I know right, well I'd prefer to have Cary Grant, but each to their own." I said giggling while Jimmy Stewart was quite handsome he couldn't hold a candle to Cary Grant.

"A Cary Grant fan eh?"

"What he's very handsome and I'm sure he'd be ever so interesting." I replied the looks, the accent and his on screen presence just made him oh so appealing.

"Fan of the accent?" she asked I mean Mr Grant was British his accent was extremely attractive, if every British spoke like that I'd be in heaven living there.

"I mean who isn't really."

"Well if we get shipped to Europe we'll be hearing it a lot more."

The rest of the nurses began filing in, a woman that was three years younger than me and Val took the bed the other side of me. She introduced herself to us as Marie Dolen from New Jersey; she'd been working as a midwife up until a year ago when she'd decided to switch paths and started training as a staff nurse. Everyone came from a wide background of nursing, some with more experience than others, but everyone was here for one thing, to help the war effort. After everyone had gotten settled in, the Matron had come in; she was older than every other nurse in the place, if I could guess I'd have said she was in her mid-forties, although I could be wrong as Colonel Fikke was only accepting unmarried women between the ages of 22 and 30…then again she could have already been part of the corps before the war started. She was rather short maybe just an inch shorter than me, her sandy brown hair was cut very short and was in tight curls.

"Right ladies, I hope you've all settled in well. You've all completed at one point or another training, some training would have been harder than others." She began everyone was stood listening to her. "But this is completely different, in order to succeed you need to focus and do everything that you are told to do. Are we clear?"

"Yes Matron."

"Some of you may not make it, some of you may end up in a position you didn't want. But know this you are all here to make a difference, to help those who are defending our great country and there is no higher honour than that." Her words instilled confidence into us all, no matter what I wasn't going to give in. I was going to complete this training and do what I set out to do, make sure our lads got home safe. "Now while we don't have to complete physical training like the men do, we will be marching every day to make sure we are all at the fittest we can be. A nurse that can't keep healthy is not worthy to be serving with us."

And that's how it went every morning we'd be awoken at six, had breakfast which generally was some form of watery porridge, followed by a brief rundown of what we were doing that day and then a march around the base for about an hour, before starting the training for the day. Of a Saturday and Sunday we were given some time off in the afternoon and allowed to go off base, provided you didn't piss Matron off so much she kept you behind to do some paperwork or any other remedial task she could think of. Not that Matron was super strict or anything, she just held us all to a certain standard and if you went below that standard she would flip. Smoking was a no-no around her, she regarded it as un-ladylike and it reminded her of her late husband, so if she caught you smoking it would immediately put her into a foul mood. This didn't really affect every one of the girls, but Val, Marie and I had been smokers for a while and it was difficult not to smoke when given the opportunity.

"I didn't think I'd be so pleased to light up." Marie groaned as she exhaled, it was Saturday afternoon and Val, Marie and I had ventured down to the Pub that was only a short journey out of the base. Half of the people in the place had come off the base for a little escape from it all. We'd sat off in the corner with a round of drinks; Val was drinking beer while Marie and I had opted for drinking whiskey.

"I know, I never thought I'd be working under a Matron who was so against smoking." Val added she had a point most of the people I had worked with at St Francis had smoked, and those that didn't, hadn't really had a problem with us all smoking.

"I mean I guess since it reminds her of her late husband, it wouldn't be nice to keep being reminded he's no longer with her." I rationalised sure it was annoying that she wouldn't allow us to smoke but if the smell brought back bad memories then I wouldn't like being constantly reminded.

"Do you know what happened? I mean what happened with her husband?"

"I heard he'd been out drinking with his friends one night and had stumbled into oncoming traffic." I answered there had been various rumours flying around about what had happened, which while I was sorting and sterilising equipment with her; she had been quick to tell me what had actually happened.

"Ah yeah, being Matron's pet gets you all the information doesn't it Annie?" Val joked just because I'd helped her on one or two occasions with odd bits of work, Val had taken to calling me that. She'd probably take to calling me that a lot more once she found out I was going to be Sister which meant I'd essentially be the second to Matron.

"Hey, she needed help so I helped her."

"Right, anyway we're in a room filled to the brim with service men, any take your fancy?" Val asked as we all looked around the room, her observation was right nearly everyone in the Pub were wearing variant military uniforms.

"I'm already taken." Marie answered we'd heard from her many a time about her handsome fiancé Johnny, who'd proposed to her a couple of months before he went off for training.

"Oh yes, your hunky marine, Johnny right?" Val questioned a cheeky grin plastered on her face.

"At least I've got someone, unlike you two." Marie bit back jabbing her in the ribs playfully, although Val acted as if she'd forcefully hit her.

"Ouch."

"I'm deeply hurt." I said pretending to be rather sad before I couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Besides I haven't met the right one yet, some of us aren't as lucky as you with Johnny."

"Well what about this guy?" Marie asked nodding her head towards a guy who looked nearly as young as my brother Ronald; I didn't need a man that was going to be a constant reminder that I had married someone as young as my brother.

"Too young looking." I replied Marie shook her head.

"Is that a bad thing?" Val asked as she looked over the crowded pub, trying to find the perfect man. "I mean, at least he won't age badly."

"While that's true, I don't want people thinking I'm out with my younger brother."

"Well what about that guy?" Marie asked again taking a sip of her drink as she nodded towards a guy that was walking over to the bar.

"Ginger hair I don't think so." Val shook her head taking a drag on a cigarette.

"Aww I think he's kinda cute." I said the guy couldn't have been much older than 21 and had short curly red hair, he was smiling at some joke his friends had just told.

"Then you go after him." Marie said leaning over Val to try and push me off the end of the sofa chair that we were sat on.

"I said he's cute, not I want to date the guy." I said swatting her hand away from me.

"Fair enough, but you two are going to be spinsters."

"We'll be your spinsters; you can even put us up in a room in your place." Val joked making us all burst into a fit of giggles. This drew the attention of one of the guys in the room who made his way over to us, leaving his friends at the bar.

"Well what are three beautiful ladies doing sat all alone?" he asked confidently he had short brown hair that was styled up to the right with his parting down far to the left. He was quite handsome but not my kind of guy.

"Having a good time." Val answered back maybe she was interested in him, I couldn't really tell.

"Well I can make it a great time, what do you say toots?" he asked winking at her, well if she was interested at all before he said that, she definitely wasn't now. She stubbed out her cigarette and picked up her nearly empty glass drinking from it before replying.

"Aww, you had me till you called me toots."

"Don't be like that."

"Hey Cobb leave the ladies alone." A guy yelled from over by the bar we all looked over to see who it was as the guy, Cobb as the guy at the bar had called him, scuttled back over to them. As I was turning back to Val and Marie, one soldier in particular caught my eye; it couldn't really be him could it?

"Hey no way, Anna is that you?" Of course it was him, the one the only Joseph Liebgott was in this bar, in his military uniform and now he was coming over here. "Didn't think I'd see you down here."

"Joe?" I couldn't believe he was actually here, there were so many different military bases around the country and yet the both of us were in Georgia.

"What are you doing down here?" he asked as he came over his arms wide expecting a hug, I stood up and hugged him. After we let go of each other I sat back down with him sitting in the last available space of the cushioned bench seat next to me, one arm perched on the back of the seat while he held his nearly empty pint glass in his other hand.

"Training, I'm guessing you're the same." I replied of course he was up here for training, given the fact he'd enlisted and was currently wearing a military uniform was a dead give a way. And he was rather handsome in a military uniform…then again a lot of the men were handsome in their uniforms.

"Yeah up at Toccoa."

"Small world huh?" It really was a small world, out of every military base either one of us could be stationed at we were both at the same one.

"Definitely, now are you going to introduce me to your new friends?" he asked motioning towards Val and Marie, both were hiding smirks behind their drink glasses.

"Marie, Val this is Joe. Joe this is Marie and Val."

"Nice to meet you, sorry 'bout Cobb, man doesn't know how to act round women." He said nodding towards Cobb who was now sat with a bunch of other soldiers, a frown on his face as he glanced in our direction.

"And you do?" I asked trying not to laugh at the look on his face as he registered what I'd said. He was pouting.

"Hey don't start attacking me; all I've done is sit down." He said holding his hands up as if he was defending himself.

"Uh-huh."

"Annie, you know me I'm such a gentleman."

"Uh-huh."

"Well Mr Gentleman, why don't you prove it and get the round in." Val stated as she motioned to the empty glasses on the table, Joe shook his head smiling as he drank the last of his beer.

"What are we drinking then?" he asked as he placed his glass down on the table, it was the same again for us two whiskeys and a beer. "Hey Skinny get me two beers and two whiskeys."

"You owe me Liebgott." The guy Joe had referred to as Skinny hollered back; Joe just laughed and shook his head once more.

"Yeah, yeah."

"And how am I meant to carry five drinks by myself anyway?" Skinny asked as he ordered the drinks anyway. I felt sorry for him; Joe could have at least gotten up and helped the poor man.

"Ask Grant or Tab to help you." Joe hollered back, Skinny shook his head before turning to the guy next to him.

"So how'd you guys meet?" Marie asked turning my attention back to our table. It was only a matter of time before they got round to asking that.

"We grew up down the street from one another." Joe replied I saw Val give Marie a look after he replied…I didn't need any nonsense from them this evening.

"He was always causing trouble with my brother." I added as I lighted another cigarette while also holding my lighter out for Joe to light his.

"And she was always trying to stop us."

"So what'd you do before enlisting Joe?" Marie asked, Joe had done quite a lot before he'd joined the Paratroopers at one stage he'd been a Barber with his dad before he'd decided to start driving cabs.

"I was a cab driver."

"Must have heard some interesting stories." Val said I mean every kind of work had interesting stories, hell even in the nursing profession there were countless bizarre stories you'd over hear people talking about.

"Hundreds, there was this one time…"

"Don't let him talk your ear off." Skinny interrupted as he and the guy he'd been stood at the bar with placed drinks down on the table.

"The war will be over before he's finished talking." The other guy added as they both pulled chairs from another table and sat down.

"Ladies, this is Skinny and Talbert. Meet Val, Marie and Anna." Joe introduced pointing at each guy in turn.

"Wayne, everyone calls me Skinny."

"Floyd." Talbert added the pair wanting to be introduced with their actual names rather than the nicknames people had come up for them.

"Nice to meet you."

"So you guys are all…" Marie started before Joe finished her sentence.

"Paratroopers."

"Wow that must be exciting." Val said they were all part of a brand spanking new kind of soldier, the first of hopefully a long line of successful of idiots who'd volunteer to jump behind enemy lines from an aircraft.

"If we survive Sobel and actually make it to jump training." Joe groaned as he drank some of his beer, earning groans from the other guys.

"Always finding some excuse to revoke weekend passes." Talbert added maybe that was why I hadn't seen the guys at the pub that often if at all for the last couple of weeks we'd been coming. "I'm surprised he didn't revoke this weekend's passes."

"Is that the guy we always see yelling at people?" Marie asked me and Val, I mean it was kind of difficult to tell if it was the same guy, everyone yelled at everyone in the army.

"Honey, it's the army someone is going to be yelling something at somebody." I replied making Marie look a bit put out; maybe I shouldn't have phrased it that way.

"If he's yelling anything about Easy Company then that's Lieutenant Sobel."

"Or you know you see a guy that looks far too happy making everyone else's life a living hell, that's our Sobel." Joe added, I don't think I wanted to meet this Sobel he sounded awful which made me feel sorry for the guys. They were all training to go into combat were they were going to be shot at countless times and some may not make it home, on top of that they were having to deal with some asshole who liked to make their lives a living hell all because he was a higher up. The night continued with the guys telling us more stories about home and training while we all enjoyed our drinks.

The evening began to draw to an end as the pub empty out around midnight; a few people were a bit worse for ware and were stumbling out into the night. Joe and his friends escorted us all back to the barracks before bidding us goodnight and returning to theirs.

"Why didn't you mention Joe before?" Val asked as she sat down on her bed taking off her shoes.

"Why would I have mentioned Joe?" I replied as I began getting ready for bed, while Marie just flopped down onto her bunk.

"Oh I don't know, why would anyone mention the handsome, single guy they grew up with?" I knew what Val was insinuating, but Joe was just a friend, a good friend. Nothing more than that, we'd grown up together, celebrated holidays and birthdays together but I'd never seen him as someone I would date let alone marry.

"I still don't understand why you'd think I'd bring him up."

"Come on, he even calls you Annie." Marie interjected but that statement made no sense, everyone at one stage or another had called me Annie. It was a nickname everyone immediately went to, mainly because I'd correct them if they called me Anne.

"Well I don't know what else he'd call me since that's my name." I answered exasperated; I could tell they weren't going to let this go anytime soon. "What else is he meant to call me anyway?"

"It's romantic don't you think?" Val asked Marie well hopefully they'd just ignore me and I could drift soundly off to sleep.

"Definitely, growing up together, growing to love one another." Marie answered I sighed into my pillow and flipped over from where I had been laid out on my stomach. "Going off to war together, like me and my Johnny."

"The two of you are out of your god damn minds." I hissed hitting Val with my pillow; I knew if I threw it over at Marie I'd never be getting it back.

"They'd have super cute kids." Marie giggled they really weren't going to stop.

"He's a friend." I grumbled as I laid back down trying to block out any more of their conversation, one of the other nurses who were trying to sleep surely would tell them to shut up soon.

"All the good love stories start with that." Val stated I turned to glare in her direction but she just smiled smugly back at me.

"Oh lay off will you."

"Come on Annie, we're only having a little fun." Marie called from her bed, I knew they were having fun but it was so annoying to me.

"Shut up and go to bed."

"He could be your Cary Grant." Val tried to whisper to me as she leaned over to my bed, but ended up in a giggling fit, I swatted my hand in her general direction to get her to go away. "Your Jewish Cary Grant."

"Will you shut up!" one of the other nurses shouted from the other end of the barracks and that brought an end to their torturous efforts of having fun at my expense.

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Author's Notes:

Hello, hope you have enjoyed the second chapter. I've got many ideas in store for the next couple of chapters, not entirely sure how long this story will end up being but hopefully you'll enjoy it. It's fascinating to read stories from nurses during the war, which is one of the reasons I chose the training camp at Toccoa as one of the stories I read was about a nurse who started dating one of the airborne earnt her 'wings' by jumping off a table in the nurse barracks five times. They made it through the war, married one another and lived the rest of their lives together.


	3. First of Their Kind

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 3: First of Their Kind

Camp Toccoa, Georgia June 1942

We had been training for months on end, I didn't realise how much they were going to continuously drill into us. Some days had been more repetitive than others for me, being part of a general surgery ward meant I had experience in several different areas, compared to Marie who had been a midwife up until a year ago and still had much to learn. I mean treating wounds that were caused by explosions wasn't something you always came up against, but gunshot wounds had been normal to some nurses who had worked in the ER department of their respective hospitals. Matron had upped her 'physical training' from just marching to jogging around and even sprinting on occasion. In her words: 'In the field equipment won't be readily available, saving your patients life may depend on you running to the next station to acquire your tools.'

"What utter bullshit." Val shouted as she entered the barracks a piece of paper scrunched up in her right hand. I looked over at Marie who looked as confused as I felt.

"What's wrong?" I asked as she threw herself down onto her bunk, she flung the piece of paper my way, but it just sort of floated down to the floor increasing her frustration.

"This." She hissed as she kicked the piece of paper on the floor, I leaned down and picked it up and flattened it out so it was actually readable. Marie joined us kneeling behind me on my bunk so she could read the note over my shoulder. It read:

 _Dearest Valerie,_

 _You are breaking your mother's heart as well as mine, you are our only child and we cannot understand why you would do such a thing. While you may think this is an exciting opportunity, it is not. It is selfish and hurtful. We raised you better than this, how can a woman go to war? Your rightful place is at home, with a husband raising our grandchildren. You are depriving us of grandchildren with your selfish reasons to remain unmarried. I supported your dreams of becoming a nurse, thinking it would give you a chance to meet a wealthy surgeon to marry. But I cannot support this; if you come home you are not welcome in our household any longer._

 _Farewell_

 _Father_

"What the hell?" Marie said in utter disbelief, I couldn't even think of something so awful. How could a parent say any of this to their child? Especially their only child.

"How could they say such awful things?" I murmured re-reading the letter just to make sure I had actually read it right and they had said all those awful things. I looked over at Val who was now face down on her bunk, her face buried in her pillow, every now and then I could hear sniffling.

"Do you know what, fuck them." Marie angrily said as she got off of my bed and sat down next to Val rubbing her back in a soothing fashion. "If they don't want you, there are people here that want you…no need you Val."

"Yeah." I started I was still quite in shock from what I'd just read, I couldn't understand how they could be so unsupportive. Fair enough there were people that didn't support the war because they didn't support violence, but Val was a nurse someone who was going to save lives out there, I couldn't think of a better cause to support. "We need you; gosh if you weren't here I'd be at my wits end."

"And I'd have to deal with this one by myself." Marie added to which I playfully hit her in the arm.

"Hey!"

"What? You're so much effort." Marie explained laughing slightly as I frowned at her.

"Am not."

"I appreciate what you're trying to do guys; I really do, but…"

"But nothing, you're one of us and we look after our own." Marie interrupted Val at this stage had turned over to face us both, her eyes were beginning to look puffy and red from crying and her cheeks were tear stained.

"What about after the war? I can't go home to them." She mumbled new tears falling from her eyes, she did have a point they'd told her not to come home, if she made it home, were their words.

"I told you, the two of you can be my spinsters and live with me and Johnny." Marie said in a matter of fact way, but who was she kidding, that was a joke between friends there was no way we'd ever just be live in spinsters with Marie and Johnny and any little kids they were going to have.

"Marie, be serious." Val groaned returning to crying into her pillow.

"You can come home with me." I said and I was serious, I mean it meant another mouth to feed, another bed to find. But I know that both mum and dad would be fine with it, they'd take her in like she was a member of the family. Mum had always said that when others are in need, it is our responsibility to make sure they get through it with all the help they need.

"What?" she asked in disbelief as she looked up at me.

"You heard you can come home with me."

"I can't do that Anna, I can't be a burden on you and your family." She mumbled I shook my head she wasn't going to be a burden.

"Honey, you ain't a burden hell my mum would probably say you're a godsend with your cleaning abilities." I said laughing slightly which made her smile a bit.

"Of course you know you won't be celebrating Christmas, you'll be celebrating Hanukkah." Marie added earning her a jab in the side. "Ow!"

"There ain't anything wrong with celebrating Hanukkah, besides its eight days of celebrating instead of one." I said grinning widely at Marie shaking her head; however it definitely cheered Val up.

"You really think they'll be ok with it, I mean your parents?" Val asked timidly she'd finally sat up and was wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her shirt, until Marie reached into one pocket and fished out a tissue.

"I'm sure they will be, I'll write them and explain the whole situation." I replied if I wrote to them and explained everything about Val's situation I'm sure they'd understand.

"Thank you so much. I don't know what I'd do without you guys." Val said pulling both me and Marie into a big hug. If we didn't support each other there was no point of us being here, there'd be no teamwork and we'd fail as a company of nurses. And if we failed it meant lives would be lost and that was not an option.

"Ladies, with me Colonel Sink wants a word." Matron had come into the barracks in a flurry, making the three of us jump apart and quickly stand up. She had reached our bunks and motioned for us to follow her before turning back round to go back out as quickly as she had appeared. The three of us quickly trailed behind her.

"Ma'am, permission to speak." Marie asked as we rounded to corner of one of the barracks heading straight towards the head office.

"Granted, what is it Nurse Dolen?" Matron answered, while it was never hospital protocol to address people in such a manner, this was the army and Matron had made sure we followed the same procedures the soldiers did.

"What does Colonel Sink want with the three of us?" Marie asked Colonel Sink was a part of the central command here at Toccoa, specifically he oversaw the Paratroopers. So exactly what he wanted with a company of nurses was beyond me, unless he'd also taken command of the medical corps.

"I'm not sure, Doctor Green is also joining us, so we shall all find out exactly what this is about together." Matron replied it was unusual for her not to know exactly what was going on, but I guess this meeting was something rather important that was only to be discussed together. We entered the Colonel's office where he and Doctor Green were waiting, Doctor Green was the assigned surgeon to our barracks and while most other surgeons I had worked with before had been rather over confident and snobby, he was much more laid back and appreciated all the help. That being said he could be right mardy when he wanted to be, but so can everyone when things aren't going their way.

"Ladies, good afternoon, I hope your time at Toccoa has been good." Colonel Sink greeted shaking each of our hands, this sort of sounded as if we were being let go with the way he had phrased his greeting. As if he was now going to go through a list of all our individual inadequacies and exactly why we wouldn't be fit to be a part of the medical corps. "Now this may come as quite a surprise to everyone here, but the Airborne are a completely new concept so I think we need to rethink our medical aid for them."

"Sir, there are fully trained medics that have been with them throughout their jump training, they will always have continuous aid." Doctor Green interjected, well now it wasn't sounding like we were going to be let go but more like we were getting put into a different regiment entirely.

"Yes, Doctor every squadron of the Airborne has assigned medics with them, but there are no surgical teams similar to those for the Army. A medic can only do so much; think of how many lives could be saved if we also had a surgical unit with them." Sink continued I mean he did have a point, while the medics that had been training with us as well as with the paratroopers were amazing; they were going to be severely underequipped and swamped with the amount of work out in the field.

"Sir, does that mean…"

"Yes Doctor, all of you will be fully trained to jump out of an aircraft alongside the Airborne." Sink announced I couldn't quite believe it, was Sink actually serious? We'd be trained to jump out of aircraft side by side with the Airborne.

"Holy mother!" Val exclaimed before Matron glared her down.

"Sorry sir, please excuse Nurse Kent's outburst." She apologised still keeping up her glare towards Val.

"No need for sorry, I know this is a lot to take in. None of you signed up to do this, and you are all obliged to say no to my request, just know that if you do accept not only will you be doing so with great courage you'll be given a bonus." He explained it really was a lot to take in; I'd signed up to become a nurse in the army, to be sent out to a front and care for the wounded. I'd expected to go into danger just I didn't quite expect to be jumping into the fray and behind enemy lines no less.

"If you don't mind Colonel, I would like to discuss this with my nurses for a moment." Matron asked as she ushered us up out of our seats.

"Perfectly fine, Matron." Sink replied as she ushered us out of the room and into the corridor.

"Ladies, I know this is asking a lot." She began only to be immediately cut off by Val.

"You don't say."

"Mouth Nurse Kent." She warned once more, Val looked away before apologising. I could understand her emotion at this news, it was a completely new concept that they were employing, and not field tested to the extent that they knew it was a hundred percent effective. For all we know we could be training to immediately throw away our lives.

"Sorry Matron."

"I will be perfectly fine if you decline this offer." She began and in that moment I couldn't quite help myself.

"I'm accepting." I blurted out everyone looked rather shocked at what I had just said, but continuously thinking about the men that would be doing this as well as us, thinking about them not getting the best medical aid they could potentially get. And hearing Sink's words of the lives we could save if this was successful sealed it for me. I hadn't signed up for this, but I'd signed up to save lives and if this was what I had to do, then so be it.

"Nurse Cohen, you understand how risky this is?" Matron asked the risks kept going through my mind but it still wasn't changing my mind. I'd made my decision to sign up no matter the cost, to save as many as I could.

"Yes, I understand. But we won't be alone taking this risk; the men are all in the same situation." I reasoned granted the men had signed up to fight in the war, whereas we weren't going to fight.

"They signed up for this." Val argued clearly against doing this.

"We also signed up for this."

"We didn't sign up for this, we signed up to be nurses." She explained and while that was true we wouldn't be trained to be soldiers by accepting this, we'd just be trained to jump with the paratroopers to make sure they got the best medical aid.

"And we will be nurses doing this."

"But you do realise that they all carry weapons don't you?" she asked getting rather irate with every question she kept asking.

"The medics don't, Eugene Roe is unarmed and that's the point isn't it, we aren't here to be trained to fight, we're here to make sure those men make it back here." I explained and some of the medics hadn't come from the greatest medical backgrounds which meant the more help they got the better. "And if this is the way we can make sure they get back home then I am damn sure going to do this."

"Damn, if you're going to do this, then I'll be by your side. But by God is this insane." Val sighed after taking a moment to assess what I had just told her.

"Nurse Dolen?" Matron asked and now all attention was turned to Marie who had yet to say a thing about this situation.

"If these two are going to risk their lives, I may as well join them to make sure they don't end up killing one another before the war is over." She replied giggling slightly although she immediately stopped when she saw the rather serious expression on Matron's face.

"Then it is settled the four of us will do this training." Matron announced which meant this decision was now pretty much final, we'd become the first nurses to be trained to jump behind enemy lines. "But Ladies bear in mind there will be many that tell us we cannot do this, even if the Colonel has asked us to do this. They will think, like they always do, that we can't handle this, but we will show them, like we always do, that we are more than capable of doing this."

"Have you made a decision?" Colonel Sink asked as we returned to the room, Doctor Green had stopped pacing up and down the left side of the room as we entered, cigarette in one hand and the other nervously raking through his short brown hair.

"Yes Colonel, we will all undertake this training." Matron answered, Sink smiled at the response however Doctor Green wasn't so happy about the response.

"Matron you can't be serious?" He asked utterly flabbergasted at the situation, most likely in the mind-set that women would not be able to handle this.

"We all came to our own decisions Doctor." Matron asserted before Colonel Sink then weighed in on the situation.

"If it makes you feel at ease Doctor, if you fail the jump training you will all be back to normal duty."

"I'm not worried about the training; I'm worried about the fact you are asking us to jump behind enemy lines unarmed ready to be picked off." He reasoned, maybe I had been too quick to think the Doctor was simply attesting our decision to go through with this training because we were women, when in actual fact he was concerned not only about his welfare but ours as well.

"I hear you Doctor, but with all due respect you aren't going in alone, the 605th will be right there with you. The best of our soldiers making sure you get there in one piece and you make sure they get back in one piece." Sink explained and that was a thought that was reassuring, we'd be with the best of the best that the army had.

"Well who are we being assigned to?"

"Easy Company, you'll all be trained by Captain Sobel, who I am confident will make sure you become the best." Sink replied clearly chuffed that we had all agreed to his proposal and just as he finished replying to Doctor Green there was a knock on the door. "Ah speaking of…Enter."

"Colonel." Lieutenant Sobel saluted Sink as he entered the room.

"At ease Lieutenant, now ladies Doctor Green, this is Lieutenant Sobel; he will be overseeing your training." Sink explained to the Sobel as he took in the room, upon hearing the word training he looked rather confused. Maybe he was one of the men that would believe we couldn't do this, and that we shouldn't be going off to war as nurses let alone jump out of a plane as w

"Training?"

"Yes, Lieutenant. I've deemed you the most capable at training up our first field medical unit, after all Easy Company is the finest company in the 506." Sink explained which made Sobel look as though the Colonel had just grown a third head. After everything the boys had said about him, he didn't seem to be the type that could be vindictive just to assert his commanding position. Then again you can never judge a book by its cover.

"Sir." I think he was about to start questioning but thought better of it, seeing as this was the Colonel's idea and that he was much higher up the chain of command.

"Now I won't take more of your time, better spent training." Sink said smiling; I'm sure he'd be pretty damn proud of himself when his little experiment would succeed.

"Yes Colonel."

"Are you all sure about this?" Doctor Green asked the four of us as we exited the room ahead of Lieutenant Sobel. He was clearly concerned for the safety of us all.

"Yes."

"Don't worry about us Doc; we're all tougher than we look. Right Matron?" Val added turning towards Matron.

"There's not another group of nurses I would trust to go ahead with this." Matron responded and her words made me feel six feet taller, there were no other nurses she'd trust with this than us.

"You're training with us as well Doctor; we'll all look out for each other and the men." Marie added smiling at him before our little happy gang was interrupted by Lieutenant Sobel.

"That's if you all make it through the training, which I highly doubt it." He interjected we all stared at him in disbelief, it was his job to make sure we were trained to the highest standard, Colonel Sink had said so himself.

"Pardon?" Matron asked but I had a feeling I knew where this conversation was about to go.

"With all due respect, there is no room for women in Easy." He replied and of course he was going to pull the 'women can't do what men can' card. Joe, Talbert and Skinny were all right in their assessment of this man, he was an absolute asshole.

"With all due respect, you're making room for them." Matron fired back, he seemed slightly taken aback that she was talking back at him, but it didn't faze him enough to totally retreat.

"There's no place for women in this war."

"If you hadn't already realised there has and always will be a place for the Army Nurse Corps, my girls and I are here to aid those in need." Matron continued and if Sobel had looked taken aback before, he now looked totally flabbergasted that Matron would stand her ground against him. "And if you don't think you'll need a nurse when you're screaming in agony from torn limbs or bullet wounds, then you're delusional."

"Matron." Marie, Val and I collectively gasped, she had near enough crossed a line and I'm sure if he didn't like us before he wasn't going to like us now.

"I'm sorry for Matron's brash words; she just wants to put across that with our collective help we'd be saving a lot more lives." Doctor Green interjected stepping between us and Sobel. "Like the Colonel said, the Paratroopers are a completely new concept and needs a new way of medical care."

"Still, women will not be physically capable of enduring this training so you all may want to quit while you're ahead." Sobel was insistent that we were not going to be able to complete this training, even though he had no clue how physically or mentally fit any one of us was. He simply didn't want women in his Company and he was going to make damn sure we failed.

"There is no chance in us quitting." I stated before Val backed me up.

"And there is no chance that we're failing."

"0600 sharp, in front of Easy's barracks." And with that Sobel marched out of the building, this was starting to look like an uphill battle already. He wasn't going to make this training any easier, in fact he was going to make it as hard as possible just to try and fail us. After all he'd already told us there was no room in Easy Company for women. Matron dismissed us after telling us to make sure there was nothing Sobel could be picky about when it came to tomorrow, that meant making sure our uniforms were in spotless condition and all are equipment was correct and packed correctly.

"Can you believe we actually agreed to this?" Marie exclaimed as I flopped down onto my bed with her taking the edge corner facing Val's bed, Val sat down in the centre of here bed after taking off her boots.

"We only agreed because Annie here is out of her mind and actually wants to jump out of an airplane." Val stated as she hit me lightly on the arm.

"Hey, you didn't have to agree to this." I grumbled they didn't have to agree to do this, they could have simply declined.

"We weren't going to let you do this alone." Marie added with a large beaming smile on her face.

"Even if I do think it's utterly bonkers." Val interjected and she too had a smile on her face.

"Plus we did kind of sign up to aid these men, and if doing this is going to help them more, then it's for the best." Marie continued she was right, if this was what we had to do to help the guys in the best way possible then we were sure going to make sure we did our best. Even if Sobel did not want us in his Company, even if the men of Easy Company didn't want us there, we'd make sure they all got home.

"Hey isn't Easy Company the Company that Joe is in?" Val asked and immediately I knew what was going to happen especially with the cheeky grin that was now plastered on her face.

"Oh yeah it is, isn't it?" Marie replied she too wore a cheeky grin now.

"If you're about to insinuate what I think you are, you can stop right now." I groaned they'd restart their nonsensical conversation they'd had after we'd all come back from the pub where they'd met Joe for the first time.

"Oh Annie I don't know what you mean." Val said acting all innocent as if she didn't know what I was on about.

"All we were thinking is all the time you'll get to spend with him." Marie stated as she and Val began to giggle like two school girls who'd just been waved at by their high school crush.

"I think you're forgetting about the war and our duty in it."

"Still you can always find some time for romance." Val said I leant over and swatted her leg, I had told her on multiple occasions that there was nothing between me and Joe. We were friends nothing more and we would still be friends through and after this war.

"Oh fuck off; we are not starting this again."

"Oh come on Annie we were just joking." Marie said I knew they were both joking but right now I wasn't in the mood for this to carry on like it had last time.

"But he still could be you're Jewish Cary Grant." Val added giggling once more.

"Val." I put on the meanest glare I could muster and looked towards her.

"Alright, alright jeez if looks could kill I'd be six foot under already."

"They were right though." Marie stated as she got up off of my bed and removed her boots, placing them at the end of her bed.

"What?" Val and I both asked, not entirely sure what she had meant by it nor who she was talking about.

"About Sobel, he's an asshole." She replied and now it made a lot much more sense. She was talking about Joe, Skinny and Talbert who had said that Sobel was such an asshole who liked to punish the troops for simple things. Speaking of which, we hadn't seen them for a while at the weekends in the pub, most likely because their weekend passes kept being revoked.

"Yeah that is something we can agree on."

"Better get an early night, don't want to be late and give him an excuse to stop us completing this training." I said as I finally got up off the bed to actually get ready to go to sleep and prepare for the first day of hell. I knew training for the military would be a lot tougher than training to be a Staff Nurse, but I knew for a fact that Sobel would make our training so much worse than it should be. He'd nit-pick every little detail just so he could single us out and potentially fail us, if not he'd try his hardest to make it so hard on us that we'd want to drop out rather than carry on training.

I don't think I got much sleep that night, when I closed my eyes and tried to drift off my brain switched on and began running through every thought I had. What would everyone back home think about this? Mother would surely be at a loss, she didn't want me to sign up for the Nurse Corps she definitely wouldn't support this training. Dad on the other hand would probably be proud that I was doing this, maybe he'd be more worried now than he was when I originally signed up. George would probably think I was absolutely nuts, but a little bit of him would be enormously proud of me…well I'd hope so anyway. And then I wondered what Joe would think of this, sure he'd been happy to see me that evening in the pub and he'd seemed happy back at dinner when George had first told our parents that he was enlisting. I then thought of what I'd actually agreed to, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane behind enemy lines. Yeah it sounded insane.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. Thank you to all those who have reviewed, favourited and followed the story it makes me want to continue writing the best story I can.


	4. Revoked

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 4: Revoked

Camp Toccoa, Georgia June 1942

After a sleepless night, tossing and turning and overthinking every decision I had made in my life, I was awoken by Marie shaking my shoulder.

"What?" I asked groggily blinking my eyes several times to try and remove sleep from them and wake myself up a little bit.

"We need to get up; otherwise we'll be late for the first day of training. And God only knows what would happen with Sobel if we were to show up late." She explained as she shook Valerie awake as well.

"Oh God, what time is it?" I asked as I threw the sheets off of me and got out of the bed, Marie was still trying to wake up Val.

"Five in the morning, thought we better get there slightly early just in case, but now I'm thinking I should have got up earlier." An hour to get ready and get there was surely enough so I was confused as to what she was saying. Realising that I was confused Marie nodded towards the still sleeping Val. "Think it's going to take a lot more to wake this one up."

"Pour some water over her, it'll wake her up in a second." I said giggling as I got all my uniform together and headed towards the washroom.

"What the hell?! Marie what do you think you're doing?!" I heard Val scream as I set about getting ready, her outburst had woken up nearly the entire barracks and many of the other nurses were not happy about this.

"Shut the hell up!"

"Some of us are trying to sleep here." Someone yelled at them which Val then started apologising about the outburst.

"Sorry ladies, blame Nurse Dolen for your rude awakening." She announced meaning it as an apology but it came across as she was trying to dump responsibility of Marie. I shook my head and carried on getting ready; making sure that no hair was left out of place when I tied it back up into a bun. The Georgia heat had been making it difficult to sweep it back properly, with small strands of hair curling and pulling out of the bun I'd put it up in.

"Well your suggestion worked wonders." Marie said as I exited the washroom and Val stormed passed me slamming the door behind her. "Maybe a little too well, I think she'll have the hump with me for the rest of the week."

"Well you did try and wake her up nicely at first, so really it's her fault she can't wake up on time." I replied as I started making my bed which was now slightly damp presumably due to some water flying on to it when Val jumped out of bed. "What time we on?"

"It's now quarter past five; if her highness is quick we can get there fifteen minutes early. I was thinking Matron would be round sometime around now to check up on us, but I guess she is still getting ready." Marie replied she was already fully dress and her hair was pulled back into a perfect bun, she was just in the process of checking over her medical supply bag. I too thought that Matron would have come round to check that we had gotten ourselves ready on time, and just as I thought about where she could be she came through the barrack's door.

"Morning ladies, all up and ready to start our new training?" she asked as she approached us, as she realised that Val wasn't with us a small nearly unnoticeable frown appeared on her face. "Where is Nurse Kent?"

"She's just getting ready Matron; she'll be out any sec…"

"Marie I will fuck…" Val started to yell at Marie before she noticed that Matron was now with us. "Morning Matron."

"Nurse Kent, may I remind you of your use of language. Now ladies you all look perfectly presentable, I can't see any reason you'd be reprimanded." She began as she looked us all over to make sure not a thing was out of place. "I hope your medical supply bags are correctly stocked and with pristine equipment. I don't want any one of you to be reprimanded by that incessant man child."

"Yes Matron, we double checked last night and this morning, everything is to the highest standard." Marie replied as she presented each of our bags to her for inspection. I could tell Matron was slightly apprehensive with what was going to happen this morning, I think we all were after yesterday where Sobel already had it in for us. But we weren't about to let him reprimand us for the smallest thing.

"Right ladies, I think we best be heading over to Easy's barracks." Matron stated ushering us out of the barracks, the other nurses who had been rudely awoken by Val had since started to get ready for their day, granted they still grumbled about how they didn't have to be up just yet. We all headed over towards the barracks in a sort of ominous silence, each of us knowing this was the start of a new journey together, something completely new and untested, and something no one had done before but if it was successful they would be allowed to do it for years to come when the need arose. As we approached the barracks we noticed Doctor Green pacing around nervously while smoking, something Matron always hated. Upon seeing us approaching him, he immediately stomped out the cigarette and stopped pacing, even he was nervous around Matron from time to time.

"Morning ladies, I hope you all slept well." He greeted if the pacing hadn't been a giveaway, the tone of his voice definitely was, he was just as nervous as we were. This made me a little bit less nervous, since he was more welcome to join this training than we ever were going to be.

"Yes thank you Doctor." Val, Marie and I replied in a sort of messed up jumble of nervousness, in any other situation I would have laughed at our little mishap, but today was just not the day for it.

"Right, well I think we should at least look like we are a part of the army. Let's get in formation." Matron ordered I mean it made sense to do so, however we must have looked rather odd being only five people, two of which were essentially in the commanding roles. With just the three of us in a line, Matron stood ahead and then slightly ahead of her was Doctor Green. We really must have looked odd.

"Doctor Green." A voice shouted it took some control not to turn round and see who had just hollered at the Doctor, who had now turned round to see who was calling him. "I'm Lieutenant Winters of Easy Company."

"Sir."

"Lieutenant Sobel informed me yesterday of our new medical team." Lieutenant Winters greeted he'd finally come to view as he made his way around us to Doctor Green. He didn't give off a mean aura as Lieutenant Sobel did, which was quite refreshing, not that not all military men seemed to be stoic and mean.

"Yes sir, we're all very pleased to be joining the ranks of Easy Company." Doctor Green replied before he turned and faced the four of us and began to introduce us to Lieutenant Winters. "Lieutenant, this is Matron Carlson, and her team; Nurses Cohen, Kent and Dolen."

"I'm sure you'll be very much at home in this company." Winters said which was completely different from what Sobel had said just yesterday. These two men were complete polar opposite, while Sobel seemed to be the man who liked to belittle the people under him to make him feel so much more important, Winters seemed like the man to encourage you to become the best you could be, no matter whether you'd surpass him. And Winters didn't seem to have a problem welcoming women into the company unlike Sobel.

The rest of the company started to filter out onto the grass area outside their barracks, I could only see them out of the corner of my eye, but I knew they were all a bit confused at our presence. They may have thought they were whispering but I could definitely make out a few of their conversations.

"What are they doing here?"

"What? Broads joining training this morning, maybe this day will get better."

Where amongst the few things I could make out as they got into formation and then all the murmuring ended and we stood in the Georgia heat for what felt like ages until Lieutenant Sobel finally graced us with his presence.

"You people are at the position of attention!" he shouted nearly making me jump out of my skin as I hadn't seen him appear before he began shouting. "Private Perconte, have you been blousing your trousers over your boots like a paratrooper?"

"No, sir." Was the reply of the soldier; was this what Joe and the others had been on about? Was this where he would start revoking weekend passes left, right and centre?

"Then explain the creases at the bottom."

"No excuse, sir." Perconte replied once more, there was a slight pause before he did so. Maybe he was trying to stop himself from saying something out of turn that would end in a more severe punishment than just having a weekend pass revoked.

"Volunteering for the Parachute Infantry is one thing, Perconte, but you've got a long way to prove that you belong here. Your weekend pass is revoked." He shouted and here it goes, revoking the first of the weekend passes. "Name?"

"Luz, George." He'd moved on to another soldier and he was sure to find something wrong with this man now.

"Dirt in the rear sight aperture. Pass revoked." Sobel stated, not entirely sure what he was on about, more than likely it was to do with the soldier's rifle. "When did you sew on these Chevrons, Sergeant Lipton?"

"Yesterday, sir." Lipton responded, yet another soldier in the crosshairs of Sobel. Maybe his heightened vision had seen a fray in the Chevrons or maybe there was a bit of dust he didn't like. Whatever it was, it was unfortunate for Lipton because there was no doubt he'd have his pass revoked.

"Long enough to notice this - revoked."

"Sir." Lipton said I'm not sure what the problem with his Chevron was but there was no way around it now. My stomach dropped as Sobel came waltzing into my eye line, I think I'd felt safer when he had been going down the lines of the soldiers but now he firmly had his eyes trained on us all.

"Matron Carlson." He shouted as he got squarely in front of her.

"Sir." She called back I wondered what he would find wrong to revoke her pass, or any of our passes. I knew none of our uniforms had creases in them, all our medical supplies were fully clean and there was nothing misses, there were no loose threads, lose hairs or anything wrong at all. But he'd find something, oh yes he would find something and he would be so smug about it.

"Lapel pins are not in the correct position. You want to be a part of this company, you need to improve your standards or this little experiment will be over before it even starts. Pass revoked." He shouted a smirk momentarily gracing his face until he moved on and back to revoking more passes. What utter bullshit, out of any of us Matron's lapel pins were in the exact place they should be, in the exact orientation they should be.

"Name." he shouted at another solider, at this rate the entire company wouldn't have a weekend pass.

"Malarkey, Donald G."

"Malarkey is slang for "bullshit," isn't it?" Sobel asked and the only reason I could think of him asking that was to make him feel superior. I'm guessing if anyone asked Malarkey that before he'd have a few things to say to them, but here he couldn't say a thing against Sobel otherwise he'd have severe consequences.

"Yes, sir!"

"Rust on the butt-plate hinge spring, Private Bullshit - revoked." Sobel responded yet another pass revoked and it probably wasn't even past half seven in the morning yet. "Name."

"Liebgott, Joseph, D, sir." Joe responded I prayed he wouldn't do something stupid for whatever thing Sobel found to be not to standard. Joe was and always will be hot-headed.

"Rusty bayonet, Liebgott. You want to kill Germans?"

"Yes, sir." Joe replied and just as he finished responding there was a clang of metal, more than likely Sobel had hit Joe's helmet with said rusty bayonet. I could imagine Joe was absolutely seething with rage at this point and was more than likely biting his cheek in order not to say something back or even deck Sobel.

"Not with this." Sobel responded and then once again he appeared in my eye line holding the bayonet above his head. He turned to address the whole platoon. "I will not take this rusty piece of shit to war, and I will not take you to war in your condition. Now thanks to these men and their infractions, every man in the company who had a weekend pass has lost it. Change into your PT gear. We're running Currahee."

"Jesus Christ." Val sighed the minute Sobel disappeared, Matron and Doctor Green turned round.

"Nurse Kent, do I have to remind you about your language?" Matron snapped clearly tense from what had just occurred.

"Sorry Matron."

"Ladies, Doctor Green, you'll be joining us today on our run up Currahee." Winters had approached us as the rest of the men had returned to barracks. I'm sure they'd be happy to know that they'd be running with four women today. "Colonel Sink has also requested that your barracks be moved to the newly built building adjacent to Easy's. All your belongings have already been brought to it this morning."

"Thank you Lieutenant, we'll be quick about changing and joining the run." Doctor Green thanked before Winters went back to his barracks. Our stuff had already been moved over, which meant it was more convenient however it felt slightly like an invasion of privacy.

"Right then, get changed quickly we don't need any more excuses for Sobel to pick up on." Matron said dismissing us; we jogged into our new accommodation and sure enough all our stuff was there. There was a small sectioned off bit at the back of the barracks adjacent to the washroom, which was surely Doctor Green's room, who immediately went into it to get changed into his PT gear.

"Can you believe he's revoked everyone's weekend passes?" Marie asked as she finished changing and was in the process of lacing up her boots.

"Yeah the guys warned us about him remember?" I replied as I pulled on the white t-shirt and tied the pull string on my shorts.

"Oh yeah, he's much worse than what I imagined." She replied as both Matron and Val had finished changing and as if on cue Doctor Green had too.

"Ladies are you decent?" he asked through the door to his separate room.

"Yes Doctor, now come on let's go." Matron replied as she started to head out the door with the rest of us behind her. We caught up with the end of the platoon who were walking out of their barracks, I hadn't really felt self-conscious in PT gear before but I hadn't been wearing it in the constant company of a platoon of men, and some of the looks we were getting were making me rather uncomfortable. "Ignore them Nurse Cohen."

"Hey Easy Company, while your running we'll take your dames to the movies for you." A soldier from a different company hollered at the guys up front, loud enough for everyone to hear it.

"Good they need some female company." I distinctly recognised Joe's voice as he hollered back at them before the guys in front started to run, which meant we had to start the running already. As we eventually passed the guys that had been making fun of Easy's predicament they seemed to realise we weren't exactly men.

"Wow, toots where you off to in a hurry?" one of the guys hollered making a few of the guys around him chuckle.

"Anywhere that doesn't have you in it." I shouted back making Val and Marie giggle behind me and out of the corner of my eye I saw Matron smile slightly.

"Private if the next words out of your mouth aren't an apology, you best keep it shut." Came a shout from an Easy man who had caught up with us, he must have been last out of their barracks. "Sorry about them Ladies."

"No need…" Matron began but then realised she didn't know the man's name.

"Sergeant Carwood Lipton, Ma'am." He quickly added before nodding over towards the others who were not too far away from us, but enough that if we kept up at this pace we would lose them. "Best we catch up, Lieutenant Sobel doesn't take it well when we don't do this run in less than twenty one minutes."

I thought before we started this training that I was fit and healthy; I could walk up some of the hills in San Fran without much problem. I though the marching that Matron had insisted we do would have helped improve my fitness, but I don't think anything could have prepared me for running up Currahee. What made it worse was Sobel screaming at everyone, that they weren't good enough for this, that they should give up and go home. And when you're legs and lungs are screaming at you to stop, his words cut through you like a sharp knife, and you think to yourself maybe I should give up. That was until I reached the top and heard words of encouragement.

"Come on, you can do this!" It was Lieutenant Winters who was crouched down at the side, rallying the men to get up to the top and get back down, arguably the easier section of the run since it was now all downhill. I mean Sobel was still there saying it wasn't good enough for Easy that the time was closing in on 23 minutes.

"I don't think I ever want to do that again." Val moaned as she collapsed face first down onto her bed. We'd completed the run much to Sobel's displeasure and were given some temporary reprieve before we would be doing the assault course in just a few minutes.

"Buck up Kent, we'll be doing that run a lot more." Matron stated although she too looked near enough exhausted.

"I think we all did splendidly." Doctor Green called from outside, he had been relegated to the step to smoke by Matron, I'm sure we'd all eventually be relegated at some point. "Ah I see movement, are you ready ladies?"

"Doc, I don't think I'll ever be ready but I'm sure as hell gonna do my best." Marie called as she forced herself up off of her bed. I joined her groaning as my legs protested furiously, Matron had also gotten up.

"Val, you best be getting up right now." I called as I stopped by her bed she groaned in reply. "Otherwise that run this morning will have been for nothing, you know he's looking for any chance to fail us."

"God damn it." She mumbled and forced herself up and off her bed, as we exited the barracks Lieutenant Winters had come round to make sure we were ready to go. The rest of Easy Company were heading towards the course, I caught the gaze of Joe who was walking just a few yards away from the barracks. He didn't look best pleased and when he looked away he seemed to shake his head. I frowned, what was his problem?

"Everybody ready?" Winters asked as we all exited the barracks and joined him on the grass, Doc had put his cigarette out hastily as Matron had passed by him.

"Ready as we'll ever be lieutenant." she replied and then we were on our way to the assault course. I mean it wasn't as bad as running up Currahee but my legs really did protest when they were forced to do running knee ups through a set of tires and climb up a log wall. But somehow we managed to come through it even if at some point all of us felt like giving up and the guys around us seemed impressed…well some of them anyway.

"What are we doing this afternoon?" Marie asked Matron, we'd be given time off again just before lunch would be served in the canteen and then afterwards there was more training.

"Jump training." She replied we had all gotten changed from our PT gear into our field gear. For once we'd been given trousers instead of skirts, mind you jumping out of an airplane is a skirt or a dress would not be very practical.

"Great and when pray tell are we ever going to get any medical training done?" Val murmured in a tone I really wouldn't use with Matron no matter how horrid I felt.

"Attitude Kent, and by my standards we won't need much more medical training. The three of you are the finest nurses we have; we will go over somethings we need to brush up on when we can." Matron replied I felt a swell of pride when she said we were the finest nurses here and that there was little more we needed to learn. "We must focus on this training now, and make damn sure that we succeed."

"And we will succeed. I must apologise for my apprehension before." Doc Green had entered the room after he had gotten changed in his little room. "I thought this training would be too much, not just for me but for us all. But going through today's gruelling regime I can see now I was wrong. I underestimated you all and if anyone can get through this training it will be you."

"Well said Doctor." Matron thanked him and with everyone changed into field gear we headed on over to the mess hall. My legs still ached and if my stomach wasn't growling I would have much preferred to just lie down in bed and sleep for a while.

"I'm hoping for something that isn't going to just be grey slop." Val murmured as we walked rather leisurely over to the canteen.

"I'm sorry to say, I don't see that happening. It's not exactly a five star restaurant." I replied the food was edible but nothing you'd want to write home about. What I wouldn't give to eat some proper food, something that tasted better than this food.

"Damn couldn't you just pretend for once, we were going to get some sirloin steak?" Val replied laughing a little bit.

"Hey I wouldn't mind some steak right about now." Marie laughed and now my stomach was growling more just at the thought of some steak. Just as we got to the mess hall Marie had spotted Joe stood outside smoking. "Isn't that Joe?"

"So it is."

"Annie, mind if I talk to you for a second?" he asked as he stubbed out his cigarette, by the tone of his voice and his expression it didn't sound like this was going to be a conversation that I was going to enjoy.

"Yeah sure, Val do us a favour save us a seat." I replied as I followed Joe to just around the corner of the mess hall and out of ear shot of most people. "What's this about?"

"You really don't know?" Joe replied sort of looking as if I had said the most ludicrous thing in the world.

"I'm not a mind reader Joe; you're the one who wanted this chat. I'm just asking what you wanted to chat about that you needed to take me aside for a couple of minutes." I said he scoffed and shook his head.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" I questioned once more, I knew from the start this conversation wasn't going to be the nicest but now it was just downright stupid.

"You can't seriously think this is a good idea? You're a nurse not a paratrooper." He all but hissed and now it was all starting to make sense. The tone of his voice, the look he gave me before we started the assault course. He didn't think I should be doing this.

"So this is what this is about? Seriously I can't believe you." I said as I shook my head and took several steps back from him. "You don't think I should be doing this, any of this right?"

"Anna, this ain't a walk in the park this is war." He stated his tone now wasn't as angry and slightly more caring, but he had royally pissed me off.

"Fucking hell Joe, I didn't realise we were at war. I can't believe you." I was seething with rage at this point. "This doesn't just affect men, you know that right? It affects everyone, so why can't I do something? Or is it just for you men to solve?"

"Anna…"

"No listen to me God damnit! I am going through with this whether you fucking like it or not." I shouted a little too loudly and it made Joe jump slightly as if he didn't believe I could be this loud.

"Jumping out of a fucking airplane though? Why the fuck did they think forming this little experiment was a good idea? It's one sure way of getting you and the other nurses killed." He replied and I couldn't actually believe the words had come out of his mouth.

"Fuck you." I hissed I was beyond pissed off at him now. "If you didn't fucking realise, you're also jumping out of a fucking plane."

"Annie, don't do this. Go to Colonel Sink and say you've changed your mind. Think of what your family would think about all this."

"I…I can't believe you, I really fucking can't." I said I was now resisting the urge to slap him. "For one thing my dad is damn proud I'm doing this. Damn proud that I was singled out as one of the best nurses for the job. And do you know what Joe, I'm going to show you exactly what I'm capable of and when I finish this training, which I damn well am going to, your face is going to be a picture. Mark my words Joseph Liebgott."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. I think I've got some good ideas coming up in the next few chapters, well I really hope they're good anyway.


	5. Currahee

Disclaimer: Hi, I own don't any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 5: Currahee

Camp Toccoa, Georgia, 1942

 _Dearest Annie,_

 _I can't think of how I could put down in words how proud of you I am, but I will try nonetheless. To tell you I was proud when you signed up would be an understatement, your mother may not agree with me on this, but for my first daughter to tell me she was going to help out in the war effort made me so unbelievably proud. I know it was a big decision, the biggest and while I am proud I did have that niggling doubt that it would be too much. But like always you have showed me and everyone else around you that you can do anything and everything you set your mind to. And for you to even go beyond expectations and become a first in your field made this old man cry. It also unfortunately made your mother cry, but I will tell you this, even though she doesn't want you to put yourself in this danger she is damn proud of you. I wrote to your brother about it all, although I'm sure you've already written him, so I expect he will be writing to you shortly. One thing I do ask is that you come back to us after the war, that you make it through all this and make it back to us._

 _With all our love,_

 _Dad_

 _P.S: Your mother and I would welcome your friend Valerie with open arms, her parents should be ashamed of themselves they shouldn't shun her they should be incredibly proud of her. Pass on our well wishes to her and your friend Marie._

I'd reread his letter several times after my conversation with Joe, I still couldn't quite get over the fact at how harsh he had been. Asking me to go to Colonel Sink and say that I had changed my mind that I didn't want to go through with this. He'd step over a line and quite frankly until he apologised I didn't want to speak to him.

"Rereading that letter again?" Marie asked as she sat down at the end of my bed. I sat up pushing my back up against the wall and put the letter on the side table.

"Yeah."

"Still thinking about what Joe said?" she asked I nodded to which Val scoffed.

"Fuck him, if he thinks for one second that we would quit now after having to run up that stupid hill several times he can go fuck himself." She shouted to which she got a stern look off of Matron who was sat on her bed reading the latest news.

"Language Kent." She said but before Val could apologise or say that she had every right to cuss him out, Matron continued. "Although I do agree with you on that, never surround yourself with people that don't think you can do something you really can do. Show him and the rest of them what you are truly capable of, outrun him on that hill, and finish that assault course before he does. Show him he is utterly wrong about you."

"Thank you Matron."

"No need to thank me, Nurse Cohen." She said a larger smile plastered on her face, with her support we could get through anything.

"You know Matron, you can just call us by our first names when were not in a formal setting." Val added although I couldn't really see Matron calling us by our first names, I mean it would be nice since now we were a much smaller more intimate team.

"Hmm, I guess I could do that, and I'm assuming you'd want to call me by my first name?" she responded now I didn't expect her to say that, I was sure she'd just say something about why should she change now, since she'd been doing it since the day we started at Toccoa. But Matron was always one for surprises. "I guess if we do this rather than calling me Matron, you can call me Margaery."

"All right Marge."

"Margaery, no shortening it Valerie." Matron stated…well it was step forward I guess, although thinking about it since she insisted on Margaery calling her Matron was a lot less hassle. The conversation sort of stopped at that point and we all sort of just started to get ready to go and run up Currahee.

"Ladies, are you ready?" came the voice of Sergeant Lipton, Lip for short, who had become one of the guys who helped us out from time to time. Like Lieutenant Winters he didn't see us as women that wouldn't be able to complete this, he saw us as people who were training with him to be the best of the best.

"Yes Sergeant." Matron replied as we all exited the barracks, Doc Green was already outside having needed a smoke break.

"Ma'am just Lip is fine when were not in a formal setting." Was his response as we started walking up to where the rest of Easy where. Matron shook her head.

"I wouldn't take it as an insult Lip; she just likes things done the 'proper' way." Val said patting him on the shoulder to which he just laughed.

"Hey, if it ain't the ladies of Easy." Some idiot from another company shouted, probably the same ones that had joked the first time we'd run Currahee.

"I'd watch it if I were you lads, you don't want to be messing with them." Bill Guarnere shouted back, while at the start of our training with Easy Guarnere had been firmly in the camp that believed we shouldn't be doing this, after once or twice picking him up as he stumbled up the mountain and returning his snarky comments, he'd come to conclusion we weren't leaving anytime soon so he best accept it. There were a few in Easy that had come to accept us as part of the Company, but there were still more than half the Company that really didn't think we should be here. That said I wouldn't put it past the ones who had accepted us to be in a betting pool about when we were going to quit.

As usual Sobel was putting everyone down as we ran up that hill, singling out anyone he had taken a disliking to that morning. While my legs still screamed at me after the run, everyone had gotten better every time we were forced to run it in the blistering heat. We found ourselves in the middle of the pack at the final hurdle of the uphill climb; I didn't feel as tired as I had the last time, which was making me feel a lot better about the day ahead. When the guy in front of me suddenly slipped up on one of the stones that had come free, I dodged just in time so I didn't fall over the guy and leant down to help him back up which was easier when Sobel had his back turned. I hadn't realised who it was until I actually looked at him properly.

"You don't gotta help me." He murmured as he freed his arm from my grasp, a frown on his face.

"Yeah, and you don't gotta help me either." I whispered as I left him and started to run faster, deciding to take Matron's advice from this morning. Show him I can beat him on this run, which I felt I was already doing since I hadn't slipped up and had to be helped back up. As I started my descent down I passed by him on his way up, and he was still wearing that frown which had it been any other circumstance I would have smiled, but at that point in time I was more focused on my breathing.

"He didn't look pleased did he?" Marie asked as we made our way back to barracks, we'd all finished pretty much together like we started, which felt like a good accomplishment and made even better that Joe had finished behind us.

"No, maybe his ego is hurt." I replied as I flopped down onto my bed, Matron was the first to use the washroom while Doc Green sat on the porch smoking again.

"Best way to make him see you should be here, Anna." He hollered, "Granted he may never admit that you're right, he sounds like the kind of guy that doesn't like to admit when he's wrong."

"Thanks Doc." I replied deciding I rather would like a smoke break so grabbed a cigarette and my lighter and joined him on the steps. "Think one day the rest of the Company will think we belong here?"

"Eventually most of them will." He mused exhaling a cloud of smoke. "Can't see Sobel thinking that, but then again I don't think he believes half the men should be here."

"That's his loss if he can't see how good the men are." Val said as she too joined us out on the porch. "The way he goes on at some of them is awful; did you see Gordon being forced to run Currahee on his own in full gear?"

"Well remember he forced Christenson to march by himself after we'd already done a 12 mile march at night without drinking a drop of water." I added that march was horrible, in the dead of night in God awful rain with full pack on and Christenson who had taken some water had to redo it all while carrying half of a machine gun and full ammo for it.

"I still think that was too dangerous for everyone's health." Doc added, "Sometimes I think the man wants to kill us before we even make it to war. Well in a few days we'll be heading out to Fort Benning and complete jump training."

"We'll be getting our wings?"

"Correct, and then maybe they'll all believe we're meant to be here." He said as he stubbed out his cigarette. "Right well I don't know about you ladies, but I am starving."

"Yeah, I could really do with some food." Marie concurred as she came out of the barracks shortly followed by Matron. "And hopefully this time it will be a lot better."

"You say that every time, and every time it's always the same grey slop." Val laughed the next couple of days continued as usual; run Currahee, eat lunch, assault course and jump training, field/medical lessons and then every Friday was the night march. We'd gotten into a good routine and it seemed to all be going well that was until we were surprised with spaghetti for lunch.

"Can you actually believe they changed the menu?" Marie asked as she twirled her fork around getting as much spaghetti as possible before shoving it in her mouth.

"Yeah and to be honest even though it ain't real spaghetti, it sure as hell tastes better than the grey crap they've been feeding us." Val replied as she too shovelled some in, everyone seemed a lot happier; some were even going for thirds. But it all changed when Sobel barged in yelling that orders had changed and instead of an afternoon of lessons we were running up Currahee and everyone's faces immediately dropped.

The climb up the mountain was the worst experience I had ever had so far in my life. It wasn't my legs that were screaming to stop, but my stomach that was flipping and I really felt the urge to vomit up today's lunch.

"You're a wash out Private Gordon!" I heard Sobel yell further up the hill at Gordon who was struggling after having thrown up a bit further down the hill. But Sobel just wanted to make everyone's life a living hell. Sobel started to drop back further into the pack until he was pretty much next to Doc Green and me. "Nurse Cohen you look positively green, you drop out now there'll be no more running Currahee, no more PT and no more Captain Sobel."

After not getting a rise out of me, although I was half tempted to vomit in his general direction, he moved on to the other soldiers.

"You look tired Private Randleman, there's an ambulance waiting at the bottom of the hill." He yelled and still no rise from anyone, no one was going to give up now. Not with the promise of wings on the horizon. Just as Sobel was about to move on and make some snarky remark at someone else, Luz began singing 'We pull upon the risers' to which everyone joined in and we all made it back to barracks in more or less one piece.

"I think I'm going to die." Val groaned from where she was sat on the floor with a bucket between her legs ready in case she threw up.

"Tell me about it." I too was sat on the floor, back against the wall with a bucket, Marie was being seen to by Matron in the bathroom while Doc Green was lay outside having decided the ground was better for throwing up on.

"That man is a lunatic." I heard Doc holler and to be honest he was right. "He could have caused us all serious harm."

"I don't think he cares Doc." Val yelled back the effort of which made her dry heave into the bucket. The noise and motion made me wretch as well. "Hell, is there any way this can stop?"

"If you chuck it all up, you'll feel much better." Doc called back which is never a piece of advice you ever want to hear.

"I think I need some air." I mumbled as I managed to get up and walk out of the building.

"Don't stray too far, and don't overdo it." Doc called as I started to walk slowly away from our barracks, not entirely sure where I wanted to go.

"I ain't gonna make it that far Doc." I shouted back him the heat wasn't helping with the situation and soon enough I felt rather dizzy so I took refuge in the shade of one of the uncompleted barracks with my head between my knees.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?" a voice said in such a threating manner. I didn't really have the energy to look up at whoever had just arrived, but I was soon forced to look up when the man gripped my chin and forced my head up. "If it isn't one of Easy's whores, what you doing all by your lonesome doll?"

"Leave me alone." I hissed out but it pretty much came out in a pathetic whisper.

"Aww, I couldn't leave you out here looking like this, you know you've got some pretty great legs." He sneered his other hand trailing slowly up my leg, I now really wished I'd changed out of PT gear before leaving the barracks. "Now why don't I take you somewhere more private, where we can learn a lot more about one another?"

"Don't touch me." I hissed trying to push him off but in my state I could barely manage to remove his hand off my leg. And his hand that had gripped my chin was now around my waist as he started to pull me up onto my feet.

"Don't be like that doll." He whispered as he pulled me up off the ground. "You'll enjoy it a lot more if you just accept this is happening."

"Stop!" I yelled as I tried to pry my way out of his arms, but he was a lot stronger than I was and near enough picked me an inch off the floor.

"You can have it your way, but just so you know I love it when they fight back." He whispered threateningly in my ear, his lips grazing my skin making me feel nauseous all over again. "And I am going to enjoy you so much."

"Help!"

"Shut up!" he hissed as he covered my mouth with one of his hands, having to drop me back to the ground. I took that opportunity to bite down on his palm, which made him recoil and drop me fully. "You bitch!"

"What the hell is going on here?" I knew that voice anywhere and turned round to see none other than Guarnere accompanied by Toye. "Anna you alright?" I shook my head and stumbled over towards them I felt so relieved to see them and near enough tripped into Bill's arms. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"It isn't what it looks like guys."

"What it looks like, is you were trying to take advantage of our nurse here. Right Joe?" Bill yelled as he hugged me closer to his body.

"Right." Toye responded and then I heard him cracking his knuckles.

"Advantage? No, no she was into it really she was." The guy tried to defend himself but there was no way he could worm his way out of this.

"Bullshit." Bill spat his head turned as he looked behind us. "Hey, Malark get Anna back to the nurses." He then turned to look down at me. "You won't have to worry about this bastard again."

"Don't kill him Bill, you'll get in more trouble." I mumbled as I detangled myself from his arms.

"Don't worry about old Gonorrhoea, worry about yourself Anna." He said winking at me before turning his attention to the soldier that Joe had now cornered up against the wall.

"Let's get out of here." Malark suggested ushering me away from the scene and back down to the fully built barracks.

"Hey Anna, you alright?" Muck and Penkala had been walking with Malarkey as usual and had waited for him while he retrieved me from Bill.

"Yeah I am now thanks." I said trying not to think about what would have happened if the guys hadn't showed up.

"Don't worry, that jackass will learn not to mess with a member of Easy Company." Malarkey said clapping me on the shoulder, and for once I realised I felt like I belonged in Easy. None of the men had really done much to show their approval of our medical team joining them, but after Malarkey essentially referred to me as a member of Easy it made me feel like I had a place.

"I'm more worried that Guarnere and Toye will kill him and end up in a lot more trouble."

"I'd say not to worry; Guarnere knows what lines not to cross." Penkala added if they did kill him, they'd potentially face a court martial and even a firing squad. And I definitely didn't want to be responsible for the pair of them facing that.

"They'd also tell you not to worry about them and worry about yourself." Muck stated I shook my head.

"If you didn't notice already, my job is worrying about you idiots." I said laughing slightly which made them chuckle as well.

"You call us idiots, but you volunteered to jump out of an airplane too." Muck joked nudging me in the ribs.

"Yeah your right for once Muck, we're all idiots." Malarkey joked making us all chuckle; this was all a welcome distraction. It only took a couple more minutes until we'd made it back to barracks; Doc Green was still lounging on the front steps and smoking.

"Ah there you are, we were about to come and look for you." Doc said as he sat up as we arrived, he was smiling up until he had a proper look at me; I'm not sure what the hell I looked like. "Are you alright? You look rather pale, did something happen?"

"Erm…"

"An altercation with a soldier from another company Doc, Guarnere and Toye are taking care of it." Malarkey replied which made Doc frown even more.

"An altercation, what sort of altercation?" he all but demanded of Malarkey.

"Erm, I'm just going to wash up." I said quickly edging towards the door to the barracks. "Thank you guys."

I walked inside to as many questions as I'm sure the guys were getting from Doc Green, but I waved them off as I grabbed my ODs and locked myself in the washroom. I turned the sink taps on and splashed cold water onto my face before staring at my reflection in the mirror. No wonder Doc had known something had gone on; I was near enough paper white and looked incredibly ill. I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes and continued taking deep breaths.

"Annie, are you alright?" Val asked knocking on the door, I was trying to figure out how I was going to explain what had happened but I just couldn't seem to think of a way I could explain it without getting too upset.

"Yeah, I'll be out in a second." I replied there was silence for a couple of seconds before she replied saying I should take all the time I needed. I looked back up at my reflection again before I started pulling my hair out of its bun, pulling my fingers through the tangles before twisting it back up into a tidier bun. I then set about taking off my dirty PT gear and turning to the shower that I'm sure Sink had made them install in our barracks so we didn't have to trek to the public ones anymore. I let the cool water wash over my body a welcome relief to the Georgia heat; I scrubbed the dirt away and stood for a couple more minutes just letting the cooling water relax me. I towelled off and re-dressed into my ODs before looking at myself in the mirror, I looked relatively better than when I had first walked into but still somewhat pale. I sighed dropping my head down before grabbing the rest of my stuff and walking out of the room.

"Are you alright?" Marie asked quietly as she offered to take my PT gear away, I gladly accepted her offer before sitting down on my bed.

"I think I'll be alright." I replied Val sat down beside me placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Malarkey and the others informed of us of what happened I'm so sorry you must have been so scared." Val said quietly I wasn't sure what to make of everyone knowing before I had even a chance to explain it.

"It happened so fast, I'm just grateful Guarnere and Toye showed up when they did." I said I didn't even want to think what would have happened had they not; I just hoped they hadn't gone too far with whatever punishment they deemed fit enough.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Matron asked looking me over to see if there were any perceivable injuries.

"No I'm fine, I'd just sat down when I felt a bit dizzy, probably from the heat when…well when he appeared." I explained there was a collective sigh, maybe not of full relief but that I was unharmed. "I shouldn't have gone for a walk."

"Honey, if you want to go for a walk you should be able to go for a walk, no matter whether you're in ODs or in PT gear." Val stated firmly before pulling me into a hug. "I'm just so glad you're not hurt."

"Seconded." Marie said joining the hug.

"Matron, come on join this group hug." Val chimed as she unwrapped an arm and motioned for Matron to join us. "We're all here together, and we're all making it through this."

"Well said Valerie." Matron said as we all broke apart. "Currahee may mean stand alone, but we all stand together."

"Thank you, I don't think I could ever have done any of this without the three of you." I stated and it was true each of us had brought out the best in one another, whether it had been Matron pushing us on in the first few weeks of medical training, Marie being continuously supportive and kind or Val being witty and funny in times were we all needed a good joke.

"Sorry to interrupt ladies, but Anna has some visitors." Doc Green interjected as he entered the barracks followed by both Toye and Guarnere.

"How's our girl holding up?" Bill asked with a small smile on his face, probably happier to see I was safe and sound in my barracks. I got up off the bed and went over to the pair of them hugging both of them.

"I'm good, thanks to you too." I replied as I let go of them before noticing that Toye's hands were rather bloodied and maybe even slightly bruised. "Although looks like you could do with some medical attention."

"It's nothing Anna." Toye replied as he tried to remove his hands from my grasp after I'd taken them to inspect them.

"Ah, you'll leave that to the medical professionals. Now take a seat so I can treat you." I said motioning for him to sit on the bed. "You too Bill."

"Worrying about us when it should be the other way round." Bill muttered as he took a seat.

"Hey the army pays me to worry about you, I'd be downright doing a shoddy job if I didn't." I replied as I picked up the first aid supply box and sat down next to Joe and took his hands in mine and started to clean away. "Besides I'm sure you ain't complaining that four very beautiful women are taking care of you."

"She has us there, don't she Joe?" Bill laughed as Marie started looking his hands over.

"She does, Bill, she does." He chuckled this was a much needed distraction and a much welcome one too. After patching the pair of them up and reassuring them that I was positively fine they were on their way back to their own barracks.

The others began getting ready for bed, while I was sat on the steps smoking looking up at the sky and counting the stars, Doc Green came out once for a quick smoke before he bid me goodnight and left me once more. I didn't feel like sleeping at that moment in time, worried what my mind would conjure up when I closed my eyes, so I was content to sit and admire the skies. I hoped tomorrow would be a better day than today and wished that the day I got my wings would hurry up.

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Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. I think I've got some good ideas coming up in the next few chapters, well I really hope they're good anyway. I think in the next couple of chapters the guys will reach England and then soon it will be D-day.


	6. I Got My Wings

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

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Till the End of the Line

Chapter 6: I Got My Wings

Fort Benning, Georgia

We'd left Toccoa behind for a change of scenery in Fort Benning; this was the start of proper jump training from an actual plane. The change of scenery and change of activity was a breath of fresh air and was taking my mind of the incidents in the last couple of days at Toccoa. I'd since seen the soldier who'd attacked me only briefly, I'd been stood outside our barracks talking to Doc Green when he'd walked passed. Upon locking eyes with me, to which I saw the impact Toye and Guarnere had had on his face, he immediately scurried away. At that moment in time, the good doctor decided to inform me that he'd had to tend to Joe's hand which had the tell-tale bruising from punching something hard.

"Something hard? You mean like he's been punching a wall?" I'd asked but Doc had shaken his head.

"No, he'd have had some breaks if he'd been doing that. I'd say he'd punched someone." He'd replied which still had me wondering to this day, who or what had he been punching? Not that I'd seen much of Joe outside training, we still hadn't really talked since the day he'd told me to pack all this in.

The first day of jump training came around and I was both excited and apprehensive, I think once the first jump was out of the way I would be less nervous for the rest of them. I was also nervous for the rest of the company, if they didn't manage to complete the sets of jumps they wouldn't make it in the Airborne and I'm not sure what they'd do then, whereas if me and the rest of our little medical team didn't pass we were just going back to the Army Nurse Corps. Not to say I didn't want to make sure I passed this, I was just worried about the guys more than I was worried about myself. Our little group had been split up as we'd be jumping out of the planes in sticks of twelves and that was how I found myself between Joe and Doc Roe.

"Equipment check!" was shouted by the commanding officer, I checked that Roe's equipment was all fine and secure, while Joe checked mine. "Sound off."

"Twelve ok!" was shouted by Penkala and then the rest of us started.

"Seven ok!" Joe shouted behind me tapping me on the side of my right arm.

"Six ok!" I yelled tapping Roe on the arm and so on it went until one was called by Guarnere, and then we were moving up towards the door. My heart was in my throat as the bodies in front of me got less and less, meaning it was nearly my time to jump which was when I swear I felt Joe squeeze my arm and it made me feel reassured. And then it was my turn to throw myself out of the plane.

"Go, Go!" the officer shouted and I pushed myself out of the plane counting down in the exact manner we'd be taught. The only difference was I'd squeezed my eyes shut as I'd jumped out, the canopy deployed slowing down my descent and I reopened my eyes and looked around seeing dozens of white canopies gliding down to the ground. And in a couple of minutes I was on the ground, all that nervousness felt stupid now, it had all gone well and actually was rather fun. I was laughing as I pulled my chute back to me, out of relief than anything else.

"You feeling alright there Anna?" it was Chuck who was only a few yards away from me; he too had a large grin on his face as he made his way over to me having already corralled his chute back.

"I'm more than alright Chuck." I replied trying to stop myself laughing as I then noticed Sobel who was a few yards back from where Chuck had landed, he was being pulled a bit further away by his chute that he had yet to get back to him. "I think the Captain needs more help than I do."

"I think your right there." Chuck chuckled as he helped me up and we watched Sobel continue to struggle. "Think he's forgotten his own training?"

"Isn't there that phrase, oh it's totally slipped my mind…"

"If you can't do, teach." I hadn't realised that Joe had landed behind us and had since gotten his chute back and walked over to join us.

"That's it." I replied smiling up at him and it was nice to see him smiling again too. It felt as though we were back to before our argument had ever happened.

"That only applies to those who can actually teach." Chuck added making us all laugh.

"Give him his due though, none of us landed and broke a bone." I stated which Chuck shook his head to.

"I think you mean no one has broken a bone yet." Joe interjected I shook my head and swatted him on the arm.

"Don't be wishing more work on me, Liebgott."

"I wouldn't dare Cohen." He chuckled as the three of us left Sobel to figure out his chute and walked back to the barracks. Knowing that sure enough Sobel would be in a bad mood and would not doubt take it out on us all somehow. "Mind if I talk to you for a minute."

"Depends if you're going to yell again." I replied jokingly however it only caused a small smile from him. "Yeah sure, Chuck we will see you back later."

"Don't be too late; sure Sobel will have us marching for miles after his jump." Chuck hollered as he started walking away from us.

"I'm sorry." He blurted out when Chuck was out of earshot, I was rather surprised that he'd actually apologised.

"Joe…"

"I'm sorry I was such an asshole, I shouldn't have said what I said." He continued he kept wringing his hands and bouncing on the heels of his feet. "I shouldn't have yelled at you, I should have been more supportive. You and the other nurses are absolutely brilliant."

"Wow, never did I think I'd see the day that Joseph David Liebgott would apologise to me." I said jokingly to which he laughed and shook his head.

"I guess we're both full of surprises, cause I didn't think I'd see the day that I'd follow Anna Rose Cohen jumping out of an airplane." He joked and I realised even though I hadn't seen him much before training had fully gotten underway, I'd missed joking around with him, or even just talking the way we'd usually do when he'd offer me a lift to or from work.

"And while we're on the topic of apologies, I'm sorry I shouted at you."

"You don't need to apologise, I'm actually glad you're still here and you're still safe." He said a tad more serious than we'd been a moment and then I remembered what Doc Green had told me shortly before we came here.

"How are your hands by the way?" I asked and immediately his hands went straight into his pockets. "Ah no hiding them, you've already been ratted out by Doc Green. Think of this as a follow up from the nurse."

"Anna, they're fine." He grumbled but he brought his hands out of his pockets, albeit begrudgingly.

"I'll tell you if they're fine or not." I said as I looked them over, his right hand was slightly more bruised than his left, but the bruising itself was minimal. "They're healing for sure, how'd they get this way anyway? Punching walls?"

"Anna…"

"Ah…it was that…yeah erm…well thank you." I murmured as I let go of his hands, I knew what he'd done and while I appreciated him looking out for me, like I told Guarnere and Toye, they could have ended up in so much more trouble.

"The guy deserved it." He stated quietly I nodded along. "After Malark, Penk and Muck came back that day and told us about it, I had to do something."

"Joe, you could have got in a hell of a lot of trouble, hell you, Guarnere and Toye could still get in a lot of trouble." I said and thinking about that made me feel incredibly guilty, if they were court martialled they could lose everything they'd work so hard to achieve. "Wait…does everybody know?"

"If you're asking if the Lieutenants know, they don't or no one has outright told them." He replied and a little bit of relief washed over me, if this got out there could be some severe repercussions. It may have been the other soldier in the wrong but no doubt the army would rethink introducing female medics to the ranks and it would mean that me and the rest of the nurses would be removed from Easy Company.

"Thank God."

"What?" he asked perplexed surely thinking that I'd want the bastard reporting for attempt.

"It's a long explanation, short version I'd get kicked out along with Val, Marie and Matron." I answered which made him look even more confused, before he could ask I decided to continue. "Backwards I know, but it proves the point of women being a distraction to the other soldiers…yeah totally backwards."

"Can't have that then." He stated with a small smile on his face.

"Gotten used to our company then?" I asked and he shrugged his shoulders that small smile still on his face.

"What can I say, you've all proven you can tough it out." He replied which made me feel a lot better about my position here at Easy. "And if any other bastard tries something, me and the rest of the company will sort them out."

"Jeez, promise one thing, cause Lord knows you ain't gonna shy away from a fight." I sighed as we both started to walk back to the barracks, as the rest of the squads were coming off the field now.

"Anything." He said before adding. "Within reason of course."

"Don't overdo it and kill the bastard, I don't want to see you or the others court martialled. You got that?" I asked and his smile grew.

"Yes ma'am." He said saluting me before breaking down in laughter.

"Hey, I'm being serious idiot." I grumbled smacking him on the arm; he feigned injury before wrapping his arm round my shoulders.

"I know, don't worry so much about me and the others." He said as we walked like that for a while.

"Joe, I've told Guarnere, I've told Toye and I've even told Muck, Penkala and Malark so many times." I started which made him shake his head and laugh slightly.

"It's your job to worry about us. You didn't think any of them left that bit out when they were telling us what had gone on?" he finished making me shake my head, of course they'd have told the others I'd said that.

"Eh I did think for a moment they wouldn't, but I guess I was dead wrong."

"For once in your life, you've actually admitted that." He chuckled before I jabbed in the ribs to which he dropped his arm around my shoulders and grabbed his side. "Hey, I thought it was your job to look after us."

"Maybe I'm taking your advice and not worrying about you all." I laughed as we'd finally made it back to barracks.

"Very funny." He was still chuckling even if he was pretending that I'd jabbed him extremely hard. "What's going on Shift?"

"Full gear march, fifteen minutes to get ready for it, and then we're assembling in the patch of grass just over there." Shifty replied pointing over to the grass verge behind us.

"Thanks Shift, well I'll see you later Nurse Cohen." Joe said as goodbye slowly backing away to his barracks.

"Uh-huh, later Private Liebgott." I said walking over to my new barracks at Benning; it was pretty much the same as the one in Toccoa just smaller and a bit more cramped. Like he had been at Toccoa, Doc Green was lounging on the steps of the barracks smoking again.

"See you've made up with Liebgott." He said nodding towards Easy's barracks as I approached him.

"Yeah, he actually apologised to me. Couldn't believe it myself, but he really did." I replied accepting a cigarette off of him and lighting it. I sighed while exhaling the smoke, no matter how the march went tonight, today had been a good day.

"Maybe he saw the light, that he needs you and the rest of the nurses here." He suggested getting up from sitting down on the steps. "Maybe they all have, and if they haven't they definitely will when we all get our wings. Enjoy the jump?"

"More than I thought I would." I answered smiling the experience felt freeing, even if at the start I felt really nervous about it all. The next four jumps were going to be a lot easier.

"Good to hear, everyone completed them so there is no way we're failing out."

"Anna! Is that you?" Val shouted from inside the barracks.

"Well Val, I don't know many other women here so who else would it be?" I shouted back to which I heard Marie snort with laughter.

"Hey! That was uncalled for Annie; I don't need your snarky attitude." She called back probably too lazy to come out and talk.

"I put up with yours all the time." I laughed as I stubbed out my cigarette and entered the barracks to find her lounging on her bed. "Ain't we meant to be getting ready for this march in full gear?"

"We're ready, and you aren't. What took you so long?" Marie answered as I set about getting my gear together which didn't take that long.

"Got an apology." I answered which made both of them sit up on their beds.

"You're shitting me!"

"Kent, how many times do I have to tell you about your language?!" Matron reprimanded as she exited the washroom and then she realised that I had finally arrived. "Cohen you're late."

"Sorry ma'am."

"She got an apology that's what took her so long. What did he say?" Marie asked even Matron looked intrigued.

"He said he was sorry for shouting and that he was wrong about me, wrong about us." I answered pulling on the rest of my gear I hadn't had on for the jump. "He said he realised we were tough enough to hack it out."

"I'd say I'd have only thought that was possible when pigs fly, but it's been raining men all day so you know anything is possible right now." Val added making even Matron laugh along with us. It was like a day of firsts, first time we'd jumped out of a plane and first time I'd Joe had ever apologised to me.

"While this is nice and all, we really need to get going otherwise Lieutenant Sobel will have our heads." Matron stated as she ushered us all out of the barracks and towards the assembly point were Easy Company was starting to assemble for yet another night march. As predicted, Sobel wasn't in the best of moods when he arrived shouting once more at everyone for little imaginary infractions. Once his little show of command was over with we were on our way, marching around the place with the rule of no drinking from our canteens. I felt increasingly sorry for those lugging round machine guns which included Pat who had already felt the wrath of Sobel the night he drank from his canteen.

"I am exhausted." I groaned as I collapsed down onto my bed, the march had gone fine and no one, much to Sobel's displeasure, had been made to redo it.

"Same, he doesn't let up does he? If it's not Currahee its night marches, if it's not that it's something else." Marie mumbled she too had collapsed onto her bed.

"Right ladies, I think we all need a good night's sleep the next jumps are coming up and we all need to be at the top of our game." Matron stated and I couldn't agree more with her, there was no way we were going to fail right now. I mustered up the energy to slip out of my full gear grab my sleeping attire and crawled under the covers of my bed and drifted off into a deep sleep.

The next four jumps we all pulled off perfectly and with each jump my confidence grew, and our inclusion in Easy grew more and more. The guys all knew now that we could handle whatever came our way and they were happy to have us along for this journey. And then the day finally came when we were all awarded our wings and it felt amazing that we were all now fully qualified paratroopers.

"Come on Annie, you're hogging the mirror!" Val laughed pushing me away from the small mirror above the sink in the washroom. We were all in our dress uniforms, which meant for the first time in a long time the four of us, were in skirts. And for once in a long time I had actually wore my hair down, fixing the curls so it didn't look like straw, and through a collective effort we managed to get some good quality make up.

"Alright, alright I was going to be two more seconds, but someone clearly can't wait." I replied laughing as I stood on my tip toes to look at myself over Val's shoulders.

"She just wants to make sure she looks good for the boys." Marie giggled as she stood up having put on her dress heels which was such a nice change from the boots we we'd been wearing for the entirety of training. "Maybe she'll find a husband."

"What and I don't get to find a husband?"

"Don't be greedy, you've got Joe." Val hollered I shook my head, after he'd apologised they were back on this. Before he had they were telling me how shit he was, but now they were back on how we'd make such a cute couple.

"Again with this." I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose, to which Marie swatted my hand away.

"You'll ruin your make up scrunching up your face like that, and we can't have that now." She said before turning back towards the open washroom where Val was till preening. Matron stood up from her bed and walked over towards the centre of the room, straightening her jacket as she joined us. "Come on Val, Matron has got to get ready as well."

"Ladies I am perfectly fine as I am." She replied before Marie took her arm and brought her into the bathroom, while Val jumped out of the way allowing Marie to work her magic. "Marie, what are you doing?"

"Just a tad bit of make-up, not that you need it of course, I just want to see the guys go 'who the hell is that?'" she replied as she went about her way and applied a dash of this and that and before Matron could object more, Marie was done. "As the French say, voila!"

"Wow." Both Val and I said as Marie turned her towards us, not that she wasn't pretty without the make-up on, but the altogether look made her look at least ten years younger than she actually was.

"Right well, shut those jaws before flies lay eggs ladies, and we best be off."

"Yeah, I think Doc Green has been waiting for too long." Val added as she chucked her heels on and led the way out of the barracks to where Doc was stood leaning against the bannister of the steps, smoking like he always did.

"Ladies, you all look marvellous." He said a large grin on his face as he offered out his arm, towards Matron. "Matron, if you'd do me the honour, I would love to escort you."

"Well ladies, seems I've already found a man for the evening." She laughed and for once it felt like we could all let loose, as we all laughed as we began to walk towards the pub. Matron and Doc in front while the three of us linked arms and walked behind them, it didn't take all that long to reach the place, and the guys had already started the celebrations. As we entered there were a few whistles which made us giggle, at one table Guarnere was downing a pint of beer as the rest of the guys cheered him on, everyone was having such a good time it didn't feel like we were at war at all.

"What are we drinking this evening?" Doc Green asked as we found a free table in one of the corners of the bar. After some protest to Doc buying us all drinks he shook his head. "I'm damn proud of you all, it'd be my pleasure to buy you all a drink, so what's it going to be?"

"A beer if you don't mind Doc." Val answered as she sat back and went to reach into her pocket for a cigarette but thought better of it with Matron around. The rest of us agreed on the same and with that Doc went up to the bar. "Think I could get used to having drinks bought for me."

"I'm sure some of the guys wouldn't mind doing that for you." Marie joked but she was probably right, everyone was in such a good mood that they probably would buy a few rounds in.

"If they're offering, I'd take them up on it Valerie." Matron added laughing slightly at our shocked looks. "If you play your cards right, you can get everything without giving anything away."

"Margaery! I didn't think you'd have it in you." Val exclaimed laughing away. "That is some good advice though."

"Miss something did I?" Doc asked as he came back carrying everyone's drinks on a tray.

"Just some good advice, thank you Doctor." Matron replied as we all took our drinks thanking him as well, as Doc took a sip of his beer he went to reach for a cigarette before he deemed it not worth the lecture from Matron. However she'd caught on to everyone at the table itching for a cigarette already. "Ok I know you are all itching to smoke, so for tonight, I don't mind if you do."

"Oh thank God." Val sighed as she whipped out her packet of cigarettes as we all did before Doc got out a lighter and lit everyone's for them. "Want one Margaery?"

"You know I don't smoke."

"There's always a first for things." Val shrugged her shoulders and put her packet back in her jacket pocket. It felt good to be indoors and smoking rather than being relegated to the steps outside the barracks for once.

"I think a toast is in order." I stated as I exhaled and sat up slightly picking up my glass and placing my cigarette on the ashtray.

"I concur." Doc added picking up his glass and the rest also picked up their glasses. "To defying odds and everyone's expectations."

"To sticking through it all, even when it got tough." I added everyone nodded in agreement.

"To comradery in the face of hardship." Matron added.

"To doing the right thing when the time requires it."

"And to celebrating like we should, come on let's get to drinking." Val ended which made the smile on Matron's face somewhat falter but everyone clinked glasses and said cheers. The pub started to get further crowded as more and more paratroopers joined the festivities, even Colonel Sink appeared at one point to congratulate us all.

"I must say I am incredibly proud of what you have achieved." Sink had come over to our group after his speech to personally congratulate us. "I believe this was a successful endeavour."

"Definitely sir and it will continue to be successful till the end of this war." Doc Green added as he shook Sink's hand.

"I won't keep you away from the festivities much longer." He said as he then shook everyone's hands. "Enjoy your evening, you all deserve it."

After Sink left the bar got louder and the music was turned up even louder, Lieutenant Winters, Nixon and Welsh were the most senior officers there. Captain Sobel had decided not to come by the looks of it, and I think that was probably best for the mood of the party, maybe not the best idea if he wanted to actually be respected by the men…and women under his command, but nobody wanted him here after all he'd just kill everyone's buzz.

"Doc, Ladies, what are we drinking tonight?" Tab had come over to our group with a near empty glass of beer and a huge grin on his face, before anyone could argue he didn't have to get us any drinks. "We're celebrating, least I can do."

"Aren't you such a charmer?" Val said giggling slightly. "I'll help you get them in." And with that Val and Tab had gone over to the bar, and we were left wondering whether we'd get our drinks or not. Marie just shook her head with a smile on her face as she drank the rest of her beer.

"They better come back after promising us booze." She said as she lit another cigarette offering me her lighter but I declined, even though Matron had said it was alright she still looked rather uncomfortable about it every time one of us lit up. Something that Doc Green had noticed before I had.

"I love this song." He stated drinking the last of his beer before getting up. "Matron would you do me the honour of a dance?"

"I don't think…" she started but both Marie and I ushered her to go.

"Come on, I wouldn't turn down a dance from Doc." Marie said winking at Doc for good measure.

"Yeah and it's our night off, gotta let your hair down once in a while." I added Matron looked slightly convinced but still not totally up to it.

"I swear I'll be the perfect gentleman."

"Alright then, you've convinced me." She said accepting his outstretched hand and the pair went off to where an impromptu dance floor had started forming, with some of the regular nurses and locals dancing with paratroopers.

"Well now we've got Matron paired off with Doc, and Val is keeping busy with Floyd over there, I just need to find you someone." Marie said as she scanned the room looking for anyone she thought was a good match for me.

"I am perfectly fine just sitting here with you." I replied sipping what was left of my beer, but she simply shook her head.

"This is the perfect time to find someone like my Johnny."

"Last time I checked everyone here is in the Airborne not the marines." I said which made her laugh still scanning the room looking for potential husbands. "Besides I don't need a man."

"Not about needing one, it's nice to have someone you can look forward to coming home to." She replied and I wasn't about to tell her that would be nice if we weren't at war and the possibility of not returning home was a lot higher than normal. "That's what I'm looking forward to, marrying Johnny when I get back."

"That's a nice thought and all, but like I said I'm good."

"What ain't you good with?" I hadn't realised Joe had approached our table since I was turned towards Marie and wasn't facing the rest of the room, so I nearly jumped out of my skin when he asked that.

"She thinks she's getting away with not drinking this evening." Marie answered as she started to get up. "But I am not letting her pass up on the opportunity."

"That so? No need to get up I'll get the drinks in, two beers?" he asked as he put his beer down on the table.

"Oh you're such a gentleman Joe, thank you so much." Marie thanked as he left to go the bar.

"What was that?" I asked hitting her on the arm as she picked her cigarette back up off of the ashtray.

"What? We've got more free drinks thanks to me." She answered trying to act all innocent. "Plus once he gets back here I can always excuse myself and you two can have some alone time."

"Don't you start this again." I hissed I knew her plan now and it wasn't going to work.

"I don't know what you mean." She said and then Joe was back with us handing us our drinks. "Thanks again Joe."

"No problem, besides don't want no one left out of these celebrations." He replied as he sat down next to me propping one arm up on the back rest of the couch seats that lined the side wall of the pub and picking up his beer. "How does it feel to survive Sobel?"

"A goddamn relief." I laughed which made the other two laugh along as well, it really was a relief to have completed this training. Sobel could eat the words he'd said the first day we'd been told we were going to join Easy Company, and anyone else that didn't believe we could do this could do one as well.

"Yeah but we ain't rid of him, we've got to go to war with him you know." Marie added which instead of making everyone laugh made us all sigh in displeasure.

"What a downer Marie."

"Sorry but it's the truth." She stated as she took a sip of her beer, I looked over at the bar not seeing Tab or Val there which meant we weren't getting our drinks off of them anytime soon, and I hadn't realised the song had changed but Matron and Doc were still having fun on the dance floor.

"Eh it is true, means we should all drink more this evening so we can forget about that thought." Joe added as he drank more of his beer.

"I am good with that." Marie seconded as she drank some more and the pair of them looked at me. I hadn't planned on drinking a hell of a lot this evening but by the sounds of it I would be.

"Sure why not." I said picking up my glass and we clinked them all, the evening continued with Joe continuously getting drinks in even though I kept objecting and saying that Marie and I should at least buy him one, but he was having none of it. We didn't see Val or Tab for the rest of the evening; no doubt they were having a private party somewhere else, maybe even back at barracks. And as for Doc and Matron they'd left a few hours before eleven leaving just me and Marie in the bar with the rest of the Airborne.

"One of you has gotta dance with me." A rather tipsy Luz called as he came over to our table making us all laugh. "Come on, I'm a real good dancer!"

"Sure you are George." Joe chuckled as he lit up another cigarette, which I tried taking out of his hand to which he easily avoided. "Get your own damn cigarettes."

"Sharing is caring Joe." I whined he just chuckled and offered me one of his which I took happily and he lit it for me.

"Come on, just one dance." Luz grumbled as he wobbled a bit before he steadied himself by grasping one of the chairs at the table.

"I'd love to dance." Marie announced as she hopped up nearly taking the table with her.

"Lord, watch it will you." I grumbled as I stopped the table from falling over and us losing our drinks.

"Ah there we go." Luz had a large smile on his face as he offered his hand out to Marie who took it before winking back at me and Joe. I watched as they both stumbled their way through the crowd to where there was a group of people still dancing.

"You better tell him tomorrow, she's engaged to a marine." I explained as I picked up my glass and drank more beer, Joe laughed I hadn't realised we were as close as we were until I felt the vibrations of him laughing.

"A marine? Damn though I think I could take on a marine." He stated as he puffed up chest trying to look bigger than he was which made me laugh more. "What I could totally take on a marine."

"I don't doubt that Joe." I said laughing into the glass, sure the marines were some of the best soldiers but so are the Airborne and Easy were some of the best paratroopers the Airborne had. "Besides it ain't you taking on the marine, it's Luz whose gotta be careful. Want another drink?"

"I'll get them in." he said as he started to get up, but I pushed him back down into his seat.

"You've been getting them all night, least I can do is buy you one drink."

"No, no I'll get them. It's a man's job to get pretty girls drinks." He stated as he once more got up, I shook my head.

"I'd be damn furious if you hadn't just called me pretty."

"Just stating the obvious Annie." He said winking before he turned round and made his way to the bar. I felt my face heat up; he had not just done that had he? I quickly looked round the room to see if Marie with her eagle eyes had seen it, but she was way too happy dancing with Luz to even look over our way.

"Here's one for the pretty lady and one for me." Joe said as he passed me my drink and sat down next to me closer again, his arm that wasn't holding his beer was propped up against the back rest of the seat again behind my back; his hand now lazily drew circles on my right shoulder.

"Keep calling me pretty and you may permanently end up in my good books." I joked as I gulped down some more beer, he laughed as he too drank some more beer.

"Sounds like a good place to be."

"Yeah you'd never get shouted at or called names." I said which made him laugh even more.

"Yeah that's likely." He joked which earned him a hit to the chest, he feigned injury. "Ow Annie that hurt."

"What? Want me to kiss it better?" I joked hitting him in the same place again.

"I bet you say that to all the guys." He laughed as he caught my hand from smacking him again.

"Only the good looking ones." I replied smiling widely.

"Saying I'm good looking Annie?"

"I'm saying you ain't bad to look at." I said using the opportunity that my hand was close to his pocket that he kept his cigarettes in to sneak one and light it.

"I'll take that as a compliment." He said as he took the cigarette from my lips and brought it to his.

"Hey, if you didn't notice I was smoking that."

"If you didn't notice, that's from my packet, ergo it's my cigarette." He stated simply as he blew the smoke over his shoulder and not directly into my face.

"Still I lit it first." I said as I took it from his hand and brought it back to my lips inhaling before exhaling the smoke over my shoulder.

"Ain't you got your own damn cigs?" he asked as he took his packet and put it into one of his trouser pockets, not like I wouldn't take them from there but if he thought I wouldn't I'd let him keep thinking that.

"Ran out, 'bout an hour or so ago." I replied inhaling once more before ashing it on the ashtray.

"Tch and you take it out on my supply?"

"It was too easy to." I laughed he shook his head.

"You calling me easy?" he asked trying to be all serious but a smile kept breaking through.

"Hey, I don't know if you're easy, I just know you're in Easy." I replied laughing which made him break out into laughter again.

"Missing a good joke?" Marie asked as she and Luz sat back down looking rather out of sorts after dancing for at least forty minutes.

"Eh a subpar one." Joe answered which made me hit him again. "Ow, if you keep this up I'll be in the infirmary."

"He says that as if he doesn't want to end up in a room with you lovely ladies." Luz joked making us all laugh, and at that point last call was called which made the whole room complain that the night was coming to the end. "Right one last round then?"

"Sure why not." Both Marie and I replied and with that Joe and Luz went up to the bar to get the last round in.

"You looked like you were having fun." Marie stated in a suggestive tone of voice.

"I could say the same thing about you, Johnny got someone to worry about?" I joked of course knowing the answer was no, she wouldn't leave Johnny for anyone in her words they were soulmates.

"Don't be silly." She answered hitting me lightly on the arm. "The two of you though, reminds me of me and Johnny, made for each other."

"Lay off, we're good friends."

"Good friends can become more." She said giggling slightly as I hit her back on the arm.

"How many times have I told you?" I asked and she shrugged I know they'd never let up until I actually dated someone and then they'd have to secede.

"The more you deny it, the more truth there is in it." She stated giggling again as I shook my head. "If you actually admitted it your night could be going like Val's."

"Uh-huh."

"Here we go, last one for the evening." Joe said as he put down mine and his glasses onto the table and sat back down, while Luz did the same for him and Marie. We sat and chatted drinking for a while until we were finally ushered out of the bar and had to make our way back to barracks. Marie and Luz walked a lot quicker than us as they stumbled their way back laughing along the way. While Joe and I walked slower enjoying the night while it lasted, it didn't take that long though to get back to barracks.

"Thanks for tonight Joe, it was really good fun." I said thanking him as we stopped outside my barracks; Joe had offered to walk me back to the front door which I accepted immediately not wanting a repeat of what happened at Toccoa.

"I should be thanking you, I think without you it'd have been a little less fun."

"Just a little?" I asked laughing which he too laughed at.

"Alright it would have been boring without you." He said before pulling me into a hug. "Better get a goodnight sleep, I can see Sobel won't have sympathy for us in the morning."

"Guess your right Joe." I whispered before pulling back from him and looking up at him, it felt like a movie that any minute now he'd lean down and…we were friends though.

"Hey Annie, Matron's asking for you to get in." Marie shouted from the doorway…which ruined the moment and probably woke every in the vicinity up.

"Well best be going, night Joe."

"Night Annie."

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Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. I think I've got some good ideas coming up in the next few chapters, well I really hope they're good anyway. Next chapter we'll all be going to Aldbourne, Wiltshire, England. With maybe a mention or two to my home city of Liverpool which during the time would have been the first port of call for ships coming from the States, being one if not the largest in North-West England.


	7. England Bound

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

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Till the End of the Line

Chapter 7: England Bound

Camp Mackall, North Carolina, September 1943

It had been a few days since the celebrations from being awarded our wings; we'd had a rough day the day after having all had hangovers and being pushed through training by Sobel. Who as Joe had said that evening didn't have sympathy for any of us. Val had yet to fully divulge the full extent of her evening with Tab, but she did enlighten us that he was packing and he knew exactly what to do with it. To which Matron had swiftly told her not to be so crass and we'd been sent out to the medical station to continue medical training with Gene and Spina. We'd spent a couple more days at Benning before we were then moved on to Camp Mackall where we were put to task in field exercises. Which is why we found ourselves tucked into different corners of a wide hole in the ground, the five of us had been split off into the different platoons, which is why I found myself side by side with Gene with second platoon around us.

"What the hell is he doing?" Gene asked as he nodded over towards Sobel who seemed to be in a state of panic as he called for the map to be brought to him before flipping through it. Lieutenant Winters moved over towards him and was trying to stop him from whatever he was trying to do.

"Lord only knows, but it ain't going to be good." I replied as Sobel then put the map away and signalled for his platoon to start moving, Winters then made his way over towards Guarnere and the rest of second platoon.

"Move out." He commanded which made everyone confused, surely staying in our position would be better for a surprise attack on the enemy. "Tactical column."

"Told you it would be bad." I said as Gene offered a hand to help me up as we all made our way behind Sobel and first platoon to God knows where and for God knows why. Just as we had exited the hole in the ground, the 'enemy', another company of soldiers all appeared out of the tree line covered in leaf camouflage. We'd just failed the exercise and it was all down to Sobel, who was forced to leave behind three of the company before we made our way back to the prep area to try this again. He simply pointed at three people without even saying their names and told them to stay behind.

"I wish you weren't right chéri." Gene whispered as we all trudged back; the whole company's moral had just taken a hit. We were meant to be the best the Airborne had to offer and here we were making stupid mistakes that if we were in actual combat we would have taken heavy losses. I just hoped that when we did make it to combat, Sobel had actually learnt more about field tactics then he did now.

As soon as we had arrived in Camp Mackall we were leaving, we hadn't been told where we were going off to just that we would be heading towards where we'd be spending the war. Whether that meant in the Pacific against the Japanese, in Africa fighting the Germans and Italians or whether we'd be going to Europe to liberate France, Holland and Belgium. We were all gathered into trucks and sent on our way to trains with all our belongings, the long train journey allowed me to write back to my parents and to George who had written to me a couple of days ago telling me all about his training.

 _Dear Annie,_

 _Hope you are keeping well and aren't showing up all the guys like I know you can. I heard from Mum and Dad that you've been earned your jump wings, when I first heard you'd been given the opportunity to become part of the Airborne I was a little worried. Not for you, cause of course you can do anything, but for all the poor blokes that had to watch as they were surpassed by a woman. I'm sure Joe was laughing his ass off when he heard and I hope you set him straight, a Cohen can do anything they set their minds to._

 _My training has gone well, the moral here is high and we can't wait to show the Germans or the Japanese what America is made of. It's so freeing to be up in the air seeing the landscape beyond the horizon, granted I wouldn't be enjoying the view in combat but for now it's the highlight of my day. I'm sure it's the same feeling you get when you plunge out of a plane and drift down to Earth._

 _I know I may not hear from you right away and so I wish you all the best when you ship out, maybe we'll be shipped out to the same place if God decides to favour us. I'm sure Easy will watch out for you and you'll come back home, and bring as many back with you too. If I don't see you before, I'll see you back home one day, where the drinks will be on me…for the first round anyway._

 _All my love,_

 _George._

"Your brother is lovely, the letter I got of mine essentially said don't do this you've still got time to come home." Marie said as she read the letter over my shoulder, her brother wasn't as supportive as George was. The letters he wrote generally started off saying how he was proud of her, but that she should rethink and return home or at least return to the Nurse Corps.

"Yeah he sounds lovely when he writes like this, but really he's a pain in the ass in real life." I joked folding the paper and putting it back in my pocket before I turned my attention back to writing him a letter. "What's your brother doing?"

"He's already been deployed to the Pacific, last I heard he was somewhere called Guadalcanal." She replied. "He's a marine like Johnny, that's how I met him, they're best friends."

"Well they'll definitely look out for one another over there." I stated the news out from that front was mixed at best, the official report was that we were doing well but there were many rumours of awful conditions as well as the barbaric tactics of the Japanese. Bur Marie kept a hopeful outlook on the whole situation, it was the only thing you could really do.

"Your brother single?" Val chimed in she'd dosed off for the first hour of the journey which at least gave us some peace.

"No, besides what happened to Tab?" Marie answered Val just shrugged before she back to stretch and yawn.

"Floyd is lovely and all, but not marriage material."

"I hope you were safe that night, you do remember the conditions for signing up right?" I asked making Val roll her eyes.

"Yes mother we were totally safe, you know it's a great perk when you've got access to an unlimited supply of condoms." She answered. "And I won't get discharged because I won't get pregnant nor will I get married."

"You better hope not." Marie said shaking her head at Val's antics. "Just be careful Val, we don't want to lose you all because of some man."

"Aww guys, thanks for looking out for me." She said before she began regaling us with the ins and outs of her night with Floyd Talbert. I'm sure Matron was glad she was missing this, and I'm sure Val was happy she wasn't here to tell her to stop being crass again. Nevertheless it passed the time between Georgia and New York and soon we were all boarded onto the SS Samaria where we said goodbye to the States for what could be years.

"Well it looks likely that we'll be going to Europe." Val stated as we watched the shoreline pass-by, watching as the Statue of Liberty went out of sight.

"You think?" I asked as I took one last look at the country I called home before turning towards Val and Marie.

"Yeah, if we'd been deployed to the Pacific we'd have been leaving from the west coast, last time I checked New York is on the east coast." She replied I mean she was right but I think she'd forgotten that we could also be shipped off the Africa.

"What about Africa?" Marie asked which made Val pause for thought; she'd been so set on us being deployed to Europe that she'd forgotten that we could also be deployed to Africa.

"Just be hotter than Europe."

"You don't say." I laughed as we made our way below deck to where we'd be spending most of our time, Matron had argued with several people, be they part of the Airborne or the crew of the Samaria, to allow all female staff a separate area, which reluctantly we were granted.

"Think we'll have our work cut out for us." Marie groaned as she sat down on my bunk, hers was above mine and Val was above her, but we'd all settled on mine for the time being. Matron was opposite us on the ground with some nurses from the Corps above her, however for the time being she was above deck dealing with a little bit of seasickness. I was in the process of shuffling a deck of cards that Val had produced, allowing us to play any game we liked to pass the time until dinner was served.

"What are you getting at?" I asked as I kept shuffling.

"Sobel is an idiot; he is going to lead the entire company to ruin on the battlefield." Marie answered as I began dealing out seven cards, it hadn't been stated what game we were going to play, but for the meantime I was going with Go Fish rules.

"Better pray that he learns some sense in England." Val grumbled as she fanned her cards out. "What we playing?"

"Go fish." I stated as I placed the rest of the deck in the middle of us trying to balance it so the stack didn't just fall and go everywhere. "Everyone know the rules?"

"I think everyone and their six year old son knows the rules." Marie laughed and the game progressed every now and then one of the other nurses would swing by and ask what we were up to, if we knew when we'd arrive in England or if they could get a cigarette. Matron finally came down after a couple of hours on top deck.

"Feeling any better?" I asked as Val won the fourth or fifth game we'd had, finally we'd decided to stop as it was getting rather boring.

"Yes thank you Anna." She replied although she still looked rather green.

"When did you last take seasickness tablets?" Marie asked as she pulled out her medical supply pack from her bag and began to route through it to find some more tablets.

"A couple of minutes ago." She replied as she lay down on her bunk but she accepted the case Marie offered her putting them atop of her bag for a later time.

"If anyone needs medical…"

"Assistance we'll do it, don't worry Margaery its best you rest." Val finished her sentence and Matron managed a small smile at that, she must have felt awful as usually she would have been on duty for the entire trip. She was of the mentality if you want something doing right, it's better to do it yourself. And she must have felt worse when the days seemed to drag by until finally we reached the shoreline and were moored up in the docks of the City of Liverpool.

Liverpool, England, 15th September 1943

The dock was bustling as we departed the Samaria; there were large ships along with small canal boats coming into and out of the port. What I assumed would have been a fish market was closing up for the day as people stacked crates of fish and began carting them away. It was rather odd to see the large amount of bananas lining part of one warehouse and across the way there was a large amount of what I assumed was sheep by the skin and fur that was bundled up into large crates.

"Don't you think their accent is so unique?" Val whispered as a group of dockers passed us by talking amongst themselves, she was right it wasn't like any English accent I'd heard before.

"Hey love, I think you dropped this!" somebody shouted in a rather thick accent, we all turned to see a relatively young man running up to us with one of our hats which Marie accepted not knowing which one of us had lost it.

"Thanks." She replied making the man smile.

"No problem love, you lot all from the States?" he asked as he dropped his gait and walked with us, I didn't really know where we were going but we were told to follow Easy Company, Matron at least had recovered by the time we hit the dock and Doc Green had re-joined us from living with the rest of the company for the journey.

"Yeah we are, came over to help the war effort."

"'Bout time too, those Jerry bastards having been bombing us for too long." He stated spitting on the ground to show his distaste at 'those Jerry bastards'. I'm sure that meant the Germans.

"Alf, fucking lay off the girls, they don't need your ugly mug haunting their sleep." One of the dockers who'd passed us by before hollered making the rest of them laugh.

"Fuck off Eddie!" he shouted back. "Sorry gals, idiots over there need me. I swear if I weren't there they'd fall apart. Good luck and all that bollocks." And with that he tipped his flat cap and hurried on up to the group of dockers, we still however heard them as they weren't making themselves quiet. "Bleeding Nora Ed, can't a man talk to some pretty birds without you fucking breathing down me neck?"

"Bollocks, bet you nicked their hat as a way to chat them up, you right pillock."

"Fuck off."

We stayed the night in what I could only assume was once a hotel but had been now taken over by the military as sort of makeshift barracks. The next day we'd all board another train and head further south to a place called Aldbourne, apparently a small English village that would be completely different to Liverpool. The night had been disrupted by the most awful siren which was only used to signal an air raid. We were ushered out of the hotel and down into an air raid shelter where the rest of the block around us had also been evacuated to. The weirdest thing was there were no children at all, I hadn't seen them on the walk down to where we were staying and there were none in the shelter.

"Don't worry love, the kids have been sent out to the countryside, so Hitler and his fucking goons don't kill them." An elderly lady explained to me as I aired my concerns with Val. "Those bastards would kill us all if they got the chance, but we ain't giving up."

We must have spent at least two hours down in that shelter before the all clear was sounded and we were sent back to the makeshift barracks to get some sleep. That was at about four in the morning and we were boarding the train around six in the morning. I don't think I'd been more tired in my life, from lack of sleep anyway, than I was now.

"Get any sleep?" Marie asked as I collapsed onto my seat on the train I shook my head before leaning against the window and closing my eyes for a second.

"Is that good for your neck?" I didn't realise Joe had appeared, granted even if I had my eyes open I don't think it would have registered anyway.

"You try telling her, not to go to sleep." Val laughed I opened my eyes briefly to glare at her as she'd taken the seat opposite with Marie next to her. I looked over my shoulder to find Joe taking off his jacket and folding it up.

"She can go to sleep, just better if she didn't do her neck in." he stated as he leant over and passed me his jacket. "Use it as a pillow."

"Thanks." I mumbled as I placed it against the window to rest my head on, I mean if Matron and Doc Green weren't going to sit on the other side of me I would have stretched out fallen asleep in a much comfier position, but this would have to do. I must have slept the whole way as the next thing I knew I was being woken up on a very still train.

"Rise and shine." It was Joe who was shaking me gently awake.

"Are we already here?" I asked as I opened my eyes and stretched slightly dislodging Joe's jacket from where it was.

"I'd let you keep that, but I'm afraid I'd get in a lot of trouble." He joked as I passed him it and took the hand he offered to pull me up. "We got another couple of miles to go, trucks out front of the station are taking us there."

"Is this place in the middle of nowhere?" I asked as we left the train; Marie, Val and the others were waiting on the platform for me. I wasn't entirely sure why they hadn't woken me up but they'd at least taken my stuff with me.

"Seems like it." He answered and sure enough it was in the middle of nowhere, the trucks took us so far before it got dark and it was safer to march, since lights would draw the attention of the Luftwaffe. At least the march wasn't that long and we reached our destination at around ten o'clock in the evening. Once we were given our sleeping arrangements I didn't wait to unpack any of my things and simply got changed and immediately collapsed onto the bed and into a deep sleep.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. I think I've got some good ideas coming up in the next few chapters, well I really hope they're good anyway. It was rather fun writing my home city into the story, for those that don't know bananas were the major import of the docks and lamb was the major export, which is why there are many lambananas around the city. We have and probably always will be told about how we sound, even if we all don't sound like the Beatles, Wayne Rooney, Cilla Black or Paul O'Grady. The next chapter will be the training in Aldbourne leading up to the flight from Upottery Airfield and then the following chapter will start the war.


	8. Like A Hollywood Movie Set

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 8: Like a Hollywood Movie Set

Aldbourne, England

After a rather good night's sleep, I woke up feeling refreshed. I changed into my OD's and sat out on the steps of our new home, to take in my surroundings and to smoke. It was like waking up on a Hollywood Movie Set, the houses were like nothing I'd seen back home all thatched rooves and white walls with windowsill flower boxes. Val and I had been stationed with a lovely couple; Alfred and Barbara who insisted on us calling them Alf and Babs. Alf has served in the first world war and according to Babs was lucky to come back at all, they'd met shortly before the war in a local dance hall and once he was shipped off to the continent he made sure he'd come back to see her again. He was now serving in the Home Guard, but Babs called it Dad's Army, which as Alf then explained was a group of men who couldn't serve in the regular army due to age, illness or disability and so served the home front. They essentially were going to be the last line of defence for the island, making a possible German invasion a lot slower than it would normally be, by confusing them in many ways.

Marie was stationed with Matron above the post office, with an elderly woman called Charlotte who'd unfortunately lost her husband recently to natural causes, and her only son was a part of the Navy. She only heard from him every now and again when he was able to send any mail, she feared what would happen if she lost him as well. Doc Green was stationed with Gene and Spina further down the road, it was lovely that the people of the town gave up rooms so that we could stay here; I was expecting us to be in tents in fields. Training continued as it had back in the States, we all prayed that Sobel would somehow develop a sense of direction, but it seemed like he never would and that spelled doom for Easy.

"Think he's lost again?" I asked Gene in a whisper, once again I was with second platoon which luckily was being led by Lieutenant Winters. We were currently waiting for first platoon to show up, but it felt like we had been crouched in this field for well over an hour.

"I hope not, but it is Sobel." He answered as he looked around at the rest of the platoon who were now itching to start moving. Surely Colonel Sink would notice the poor results we were producing from the field exercises and would simply reassign Sobel, but that was wishful thinking.

"How you finding England?" I asked may as well make some small talk if we were going to be sat here for a long time.

"It's incredibly pretty." He replied and that was very true it was pretty, the countryside was completely different to the city, but I guess that happens everywhere. "How about you chéri?"

"I think it's rather pretty too." I mused our little conversation was halted as Lieutenant Winters gave the orders for everyone to take the objective, half the platoon lined the hedgerow on one side of the road while the other lined the hedgerow on the other side of the road. And within a couple of minutes first platoon came running up the road, we heard them before we even saw them…not sure yelling High Ho Silver would be good form on the battlefield, what I did know was that was a sure way to paint a target on yourself. Sobel looked rather confused at what had occurred or how he'd failed yet another manoeuvre. There were other training manoeuvres ran throughout that week and each he seemed to get worse at, but still nothing was done about it.

"He's failed yet another manoeuvre." Joe grumbled I'd been minding my own business sat on one of the walls that ran through the village when he'd come walking by with Skinny and Chuck. The pair of them had since moved on telling us to meet them down the local pub later.

"Yeah, he's an idiot." I stated everyone was now hearing of how Luz had tricked him into cutting a fence down by imitating Major Horton; everyone that is except the higher ups…otherwise Luz would definitely have been out of the Airborne. "Feel sorry for that farmer who has lost all his cattle."

"Yeah, but who would actually believe the Major was running round a training exercise?" he asked and that was true I don't think many people would believe the Major would take time out of his busy schedule to do that.

"I heard Tipper say he was an entire grid off."

"Yeah Sobel really is an idiot." Joe sighed as he took out a cigarette to light.

"Speaking of idiots, heard you got into a scrap with Guarnere." I interjected Doc Green had told me a while after we were put into the trucks after the train down here, Guarnere had said something that pissed Joe off and then a fight broke out.

"Do you hear everything?" he asked as he exhaled smoke up into the air and leant further back on the wall.

"Only the interesting gossip, so you gonna tell me why you decided to start a fight? Or shall I just go off what everyone else is saying?" I answered making him grumble further, but nevertheless he explained himself.

"He started it." He stated firmly, I mean Doc did say that Guarnere had said something that Joe didn't really like so I guess that statement wasn't untrue.

"Uh-huh."

"What? He did, he called Sobel a son of Abraham." He stated as he kicked off of the wall and stood out on the road facing me. He'd gotten into a few fights with people back home over this sort of thing; you'd really think he'd actually learn to take the high road.

"You do know Sobel is Jewish." I said while a few people called Lieutenant Winters a Quaker even though I'm sure he wasn't, I think everyone and their cousin knew that Sobel was Jewish, I mean the name Sobel was a big giveaway.

"Doesn't change the fact Guarnere was being a prick about it." He grumbled as he kicked some of the rocks out on the dirt road.

"Uh-huh."

"He also said I should get my nose out of his face." He said that a bit louder as if he realised it could give him the upper hand in this argument.

"Uncalled for, but you should know better Joe." I sighed this was classic Joe, fighting over anything and everything that pissed him off. If someone looked at him funny he'd have a word with them, if that wasn't satisfactory fists were thrown, but even if he looked skinny as hell, Joe would come out on top. Of course there was one time when David was still alive, that Joe had actually gotten beat and David had to help him back home, his mother was totally in shock at the state he came home in.

"Why are you giving me that look?" he asked it didn't register what he'd said for one minute.

"What look?"

"The look that says you're all disappointed and such." He explained and then I realised while I was remembering all the times Joe had ended up fighting somebody I must have looked rather disappointed.

"Oh that look no reason."

"I don't want to cause fights, you know that." He grumbled looking as if I'd just insulted him again…although he wasn't about to throw punches. I mean he could say he didn't want to cause a fight till the cows came home, still wouldn't make it any truer.

"Joe, you've never back down from a fight, cause your too damn hot-headed." I stated and at that he seemed to perk up even though hot-headed wasn't exactly a compliment.

"You think I'm hot-headed?" he asked a sly grin gracing his face; well at least he wasn't going to be moody for the rest of the day.

"Yeah." I replied looking at him sceptically as his grin grew wider; he nearly looked like the Cheshire cat with a grin that wide.

"Well at least you think I'm some kinda hot." He stated raising his eyebrows in a suggestive manner; I shook my head and hopped off the wall.

"Fuck off." I grumbled smacking him on the arm to which he laughed and rubbed the arm where I'd hit him.

"Such a mouth on you." He said as if he was shocked that I'd swear.

"I wonder where I learnt it from." I sighed shaking my head once more as he laughed once more.

"Hey if you're looking at me, I don't even swear." He stated holding up his hands in defence of himself, now if that wasn't the biggest lie I'd heard out of his mouth.

"Uh-huh, so it weren't you who was cussing out a real storm last night when you found out we were going on a twelve mile march?" I asked laughing at his reaction; I think in everyone's awe of seeing a completely new country, some for the first time, they'd forgotten how much of a dick Sobel could be and forgot about his love of marching.

"Definitely not." He said to which I smacked him once more on the arm, but that just made him laugh more. "Hey, how come you know for definite Sobel's a Jew?

"Can't a girl have secrets?" I asked which made his grin falter and he shook his head.

"Not when it comes to him." He stated somewhat more seriously than he had been a minute ago, I don't know what had gone through his mind of how I knew Sobel was Jewish.

"You do realise I have access to everyone's medical records right?" I asked laughing as the relieved look on his face before he shook his head.

"Should have known."

"Yeah, on yours it says dumbass." I laughed to which he then hit me on the arm, it felt good to laugh and joke around again, even if the war loomed ever closer.

"Ha-ha, fucking smart mouth." He grumbled but he still had a grin on his face.

"Says he who doesn't swear." I said I looked up towards the sky that had gone a bit darker and it looked like rain was threatening to fall. "Think it's gonna rain.

"Well are you coming the pub or what?" he asked as he started to walk down the road with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Sure got nothing else planned anyway." I replied as I caught up with him, we were quite lucky that the pub was close by because just as we arrived the heavens opened and it began to rain cats and dogs. The pub was rather busy with the locals, the Airborne, and some Red Cross nurses.

"What's your posion?" he asked as we squeezed our way to the bar.

"You are not buying drinks again, for once let me." I stated firmly but he just shook his head and chuckled.

"One day, but no today Annie, so what's it going to be?" he asked again I sighed well if he wanted to spend his money when I was offering to buy him a drink then more fool him.

"Whiskey."

"Two whiskeys please." He asked for handing the money over to the bartender who was incredibly fast in serving us the drinks. "Cheers."

"Cheers." I said clinking our glasses together before sipping a bit of it; Joe then started to move away from the bar and grabbed my hand taking me along with him. He'd found Skinny at a table with Tab and Chuck.

"Alright guys." He greeted as he pulled a seat out for me which I took before he grabbed a chair from another table and sat down next to me. The conversation quickly turned to all the blunders that Sobel had done recently.

"He's such an idiot." Shifty bemoaned he at least wasn't in first platoon unlike Tab who'd been in the thick of it when Luz had tricked him with his Major Horton impression.

"When has he ever not been an idiot?" Joe asked which I mean was a point; he had made everyone run on full stomachs in the heat up a hill. But he'd been competent enough to get us all through jump training.

"I'm surprised he hasn't revoked everyone's weekend passes." I added the others agreed, all except Chuck who looked rather uncomfortable.

"Think he's gone one worse." Chuck stated as he took a sip of his beer, everyone looked at him a bit puzzled.

"What'd you mean Chuck?" Tab asked to which Chuck seemed to contemplate whether to tell us or not, but then seemed to realise that he'd already sort of let the cat out of the bag.

"It looks like he's court martialling Lieutenant Winters." He said gravely I couldn't believe that, what had Winters done to deserve that? Out of everyone, Sobel included, he was the most competent. Maybe that was why Sobel was going after him, because Winters was better suited to lead Easy Company into battle than he was…but that was such a school yard reason that it surely couldn't be the reason.

"You've got to be shitting me." Joe groaned like everyone he couldn't quite believe what Chuck had just said.

"It's what I've heard." Chuck stated we didn't doubt his sources we were all just completely and utterly deflated that we could potentially be losing the best leader the company had.

"So Sobel will be taking us to war?" I asked and Chuck sighed and nodded. "We're all dead then."

"Thanks for the confidence Annie." Tab groaned but he wasn't about to deny it and neither was anyone else at the table.

"He's screwed up every manoeuvre we've ever done with him." Skinny added making everyone groan more, he was totally right. The manoeuvres at Camp Mackall had been an utter embarrassment, for all the extra training we'd been forced through at Toccoa at the hands of Sobel, we'd done the worst out of all the companies in the 506 and yet no one had thought to find the reason why.

"Yeah I don't need reminding of that." Joe bemoaned as he near enough downed his glass of whiskey. "Think Annie is right, we're all dead."

"That is unless we do something." Chuck stated as he drank the rest of his beer he seemed to catch the eye of someone behind us, Joe and I both turned to see the rest of the NCOs of the company standing there. "And the we I'm referring to is me and them."

"What do you think that means?" I asked hoping the guys weren't about to do something stupid that could end their military careers before they even entered the war.

"God only know, but I'm sure they've thought this through." Tab answered and I hope that was true, but there was niggling doubt that something awful would happen to them. It was the day after that we all found out what they had actually done and Talbert was far off from saying they knew what they were doing. Handing in letters of resignation was one of the most stupid ideas I'd head, they could have all been shot for desertion and we'd have been in a worse of position than we were with Sobel.

"They are lucky they haven't been shot." I muttered to Val as we both walked back up to our home in the town. Chuck and the rest of the NCOs had gotten off rather lightly over this whole Sobel debacle, they'd been reprimanded and one or two of them had been demoted. The good thing was that Sobel had actually been removed, promoted fortunately or unfortunately depending on who you were, and was being sent to Chilton Foliat to train up non-combatants to jump. The other good news was that the court martial against Winters had been dropped.

"Still at least they got rid of Sobel." She said and that was a reassuring thing, unless the person they got to replace him was worse, but I couldn't see that happening. "Sometimes you've got to take a risk for the reward to pay off."

"I ain't arguing with you there." I said as we finally got back to Babs and Alf's place, we'd been ordered to collect our stuff as we were moving out once more, to Upottery which was an RAF base meaning we were being sent off to war in the coming days. "But they are a bunch of idiots."

"True." She said as we gathered all our equipment together making sure the room they'd so kindly allowed us to stay in was left in a good condition. "Can you believe we're finally off to war?"

"It was gonna happen eventually." I murmured I couldn't deny I was somewhat apprehensive that we were about to go into a warzone, but I wasn't about to give up after all we'd been through.

"We'll be alright; I'm with you until the end of the line." Val said as she pulled me into a hug which was very reassuring. "Now we better get a shift on or they'll leave us behind."

We bid farewell to Babs and Alf thanking them profusely for allowing us to stay, they wished us all the luck in the world that we'd see it through to the end and make it back home. And then we were loaded onto trucks with the rest of the company and we were on our way to the airfield. The comfort of Aldbourne was left far behind as now we were sleeping in rows of tents, it truly felt like we were going to war.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. I think I've got some good ideas coming up in the next few chapters, well I really hope they're good anyway. The next chapter is definitely going to be the start of D-Day.


	9. Engage The Present

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 9: Engage the Present

Upottery, England, June 1944

The airfield was bustling, everyone was getting ready for the jump, making sure all their gear was in order and well tied up so they didn't lose it in the descent. We'd had the operation drilled into us day in day out since we'd arrived here, our target was Sainte Marie du Mont, where a German garrison would be firing on the beaches and thus halting the progression of the invasion.

"This stuff weighs a ton." Marie complained as she strapped the last of her medical supplies to herself. The total amount of gear we had including extra medical supplies was about my total body weight and then some.

"Be thankful you don't have the amount of weaponry the men do." Matron said as she clipped the extra leg bag on her, what she said was true I felt incredibly sorry for the machine gunners who had to carry the disassembled parts with them.

"Cohen!"

"Anna, R." I called back as the designated mail man made his rounds, he handed me some letters from home:

 _Dear Anna,_

 _We hope you are holding up well, England sounds lovely even if the circumstances are not as lovely. I know I haven't been the most supportive of your endeavour, but know that no matter what I love you and I am incredibly proud of you. Just promise one thing Annie, come back to us. I don't want to lose you or George; it nearly killed me when we lost David all those years ago. I don't what I'd quite do if I lost the pair of you. Your father is as ever proud of you; there is no one in the neighbourhood that doesn't know what you and your brother are doing and how proud he is of you two. The ladies from synagogue send their best; your father isn't the only one who brags about how great their children are._

 _All our love,_

 _Mum and Dad._

 _P.S. Send our love to Joe, and make sure he makes it back too. Lord knows his mother worries about him._

In that moment I felt so loved, I didn't think after everything she said about me joining the war effort and trying to persuade me not to go, that she'd write telling me how proud she was off me. I'm sure the ladies at synagogue were bored to death of mother telling them about George and I. The next letter was the first letter I'd gotten from my siblings, Ellen no doubt had written it as she had the most legible handwriting.

 _Dear Annie,_

 _Mummy and Daddy tell us you're incredibly brave and we should all be very proud of you. They say you're going to save a lot of lives and George is going to do the same as well, Daddy says he's going to be flying a plane isn't that amazing? We missed you at everyone's birthdays and all the big holidays, but Daddy said you'd make it up to us when you get back._

 _Love_

 _Rosie, Ellen and Joe._

The last letter was from my brother Ron, who I didn't think would ever write to me by himself. I was sure that he'd simply ask about me or George through letters from Mum and Dad, but alas here was a letter from him.

 _Hey big sis,_

 _I hope you are well and this letter finds you safe, I must say I never di think you'd managed to get through all the training but you've surpassed everyone's expectations (as usual). A fully fledged paratrooper…you've really outdone yourself this time. When Mum heard the news I think she blew a gasket…I mean she always worries about everyone but she has been increasingly worried about both you and George. She thinks we don't notice how she scrolls through the papers every night and keeps sections to read and reread later. I think Dad is trying to stop her from doing this, but she has her secret stash hidden somewhere in the house. It's been rather odd not having either of you at birthdays or holidays, hell even just dinner is weird. Mum even lays a place setting for the pair of you, as if you're just about to walk through the door like usual._

 _In other news I've enlisted, since now I'm eighteen and fit for service. I decided to take a leaf out of your book and joined the Airborne, so you may see me in the near future. I have yet to tell Mum, so if you could please keep this between me and you, that'd be great._

 _Love_

 _Ron._

I couldn't quite believe Ron, I mean I had a choice to turn down the Airborne and remain in the Nurse Corps. But he was outright going for it, at least in some way if he did manage to get trained before the end of the war, he could end up joining our ranks at some point and I'd be able to keep an eye on him.

"Hey!" someone shouted as I finished the last line of Ron's letter. I actually thought I was hearing things, it was George's voice but he couldn't be here, I'm sure I'd heard somewhere it looked like his squadron was set for the Pacific. Then again he was in the Air Force they could pretty much be deployed to any front. I turned round to see him running over towards me and for a minute it all felt surreal.

"George, what are you doing here?" I asked as I hugged him tight not bothered about how the equipment must have dug into him, it was unbelievably great to see him again.

"Having a nice day out, what do you think I'm doing here?" he replied with a huge grin on his face, had the situation been anything but war it would have been a better reunion, a much happier one.

"I thought you were going to the Pacific."

"Eh, some of the squad are going that way but me and some of the other guys are needed here." He answered as he gestured over to the planes a bit further down the field where some more pilots were stood having a chat.

"Great so your our ride?"

"Ha you wish, I'm taking the heat off of your jump planes so you can jump in a safer zone." He explained and that's when all the joy and relief of seeing him again vanished as I realised exactly what he was meant to do here. He was going to take the shots so we could get down there, draw all the enemy fire so we weren't shot at…making him an incredibly easy target. "Annie don't make that face, I'll be fine just like how you'll be fine too."

"Cohen!"

"Ah there's my queue to get going." He hugged me close kissing the top of my head. "Listen to me, we will both get through this and we will both get back home."

And then he was gone as quick as he had appeared leaving me standing there in a state of shock. I didn't quite know what to do with myself, I was happy I'd gotten to see him but dreading the flight to Normandy even more. Sure his plane could be shot down no matter where he was flying during the war, but for his entire mission being to draw fire away from us meant he was so much more in danger of being shot down. I turned back around to the others who were now fully ready to go, and we're in the middle of putting what looked like black grease on their faces.

"What is on your faces?" I asked deciding to try and put the thoughts of George's impending flight to the back of my mind. Val turned round with the tin in her hand and started to walk closer to me, I'd have been able to move quicker if I'd didn't have my body weight in supplies strapped to me. "Hey!"

"Camouflage Annie." She replied as she managed to smear some across my face, I managed to swerve out of her path to avoid even more being applied to my face. She was stopped when another soldier came around handing pieces of paper to each and every one of us. On the piece of paper were Colonel Sink's words announcing that the jump was tonight, making everyone more nervous than they already had been.

 _Soldiers of the Regiment,_

 _Tonight is the night of nights. Today, as you read this, you are en route to the great adventure for which you have trained for over two years._

"Easy Company!" Our attention was turned to Sobel's replacement, Lieutenant Meehan who was currently stood up in a jeep calling everybody over. "The Channel is soaked with rain and fog, no jump tonight. We're on a twenty four hour stand down."

"Great." Marie muttered and pretty much everyone else was grumbling all the same, we'd put on all this equipment and now we'd have to take it all off again.

"Right, equipment off and keep it safe and dry." Matron ordered as she began to untie her leg bag, it took as much time to get all the equipment off as it had done to get it on. But eventually we'd managed it and found a good storage place for it. That evening most of Easy gathered in a large tent which was playing some movie no one was really paying any attention to. Everyone's mind was preoccupied with the jump, everyone had been mentally preparing for weeks, but I don't think anyone would ever be totally ready for it.

"You alright?" Marie asked as I kept fidgeting, I wasn't entirely sure what was making me so antsy, but I just couldn't sit in that tent and watch the film. I sighed and nodded before I began to leave.

"Just going for a smoke." I whispered and then I left her and exited the tent, the cold air was a welcome relief as I walked a bit further away from the entrance towards some sturdy looking supply crates, where I perched and took out a cigarette. I looked up at the sky seeing all the stars twinkling brightly, everything seemed so peaceful as if we weren't at war at all. I must have been sat there for about ten minutes before Guarnere came stumbling out of the tent.

"Bill, are you ok?" I asked stubbing out my cigarette before jumping off the crates to approach him. He didn't seem to register what I had just said at first.

"Yeah, yeah." He replied but I wasn't so sure that was true, he turned to leave and took two paces forward before he stopped himself and turned back round. "Actually…my brother…I just found out…he's dead."

"Oh Bill I'm sorry to hear that." I said as I walked over to him arms wide and brought him into a hug, which he accepted and hugged back. It was the first time I'd ever seen Guarnere unsure of himself or what to do, and I never thought I'd see the day that Ole Gonorrhoea looked terrified. "If you need anything, I'm always here."

"Thanks Annie."

"Least I can do." I replied I couldn't think of how he was feeling right now, I'd lost David a long time ago when I was a child, but Guarnere had to go and fight a war knowing that when he got back he'd never see his brother again. And to think of his parents back at home receiving the news and then worrying about their other son who was soon going to war. He wasn't up for talking much after that, he wanted some alone time to process the news and so I let him wander back to his own tent. I myself wandered back to the tent that I was sharing with Matron, Marie and Val who were not back yet. Before hitting the hay, I looked back up to the stars and wondered what I'd be doing right now had none of this started, wondering what the rest of Easy would be doing if we weren't here.

It was June 6th when the jump finally went ahead, it was around late afternoon when we were ordered to put all the gear on again and make our way to the planes, we'd be landing in the cover of darkness making it harder for the enemy to spot us and more than likely harder for us to find our objectives. The nervousness was fully back in the pit of my stomach as we prepared to finally jump into the war.

"I'll see you in France." Marie said solemnly as she hugged both Val and I. She was jumping with Doc Green and Matron with the rest of first platoon, while Val and I would be jumping with second platoon.

"Safe journey ladies, we'll see you on the other side." Matron said and for the first time she pulled both Val and I into a hug. It felt like we were saying goodbye forever, but if this worked and we all survived we'd be seeing each other in France soon.

"Be safe." Doc added he instead opted for a firm handshake, which felt rather odd given the current situation but I don't think a hug off of him would have felt any better.

"We'll all be fine and get there in one piece." I stated and with that we went to our separate planes. Lieutenant Winters gave a speech before he pulled everyone up from the floor where they had been listening to him and checking over their equipment for the final time. Gene was doing rounds, giving everyone motion sickness tablets for the journey, I'd never really been motion sick before, but the nervousness was making me feel rather nauseous so I accepted them graciously.

"Don't worry chéri, we'll be fine." He whispered before moving on to the next soldier and handing over the tablets. Then came the task of actually entering the plane which was a lot tougher with the amount of equipment everyone was carrying on them now. Once everyone managed to enter the plane we took our seats. Val was across from me between Malarkey and Chuck, while I was sat between Joe and Gene. The plane remained silent of any chatter as it taxied off onto the runway and took off, everyone seemed too tense to crack a joke or do much of anything else.

"You ok?" Joe asked it felt like it we had been flying for hours, but it was probably closer to about half an hour. He'd leant closer to me so he didn't have to shout as much over the engine noise.

"Yeah, I think so." I replied but I don't think he was convinced, I didn't quite believe it myself especially when the flight got a lot rockier. We must have been somewhere over the Channel at this point, maybe a lot closer to France than I had realised we were.

"Jesus!" someone exclaimed loud enough to be heard over the engines, as a large explosion rang out close to the plane, which immediately dropped altitude and swerved away so as not to take any damage. My stomach dropped as I looked out the window between Joe and I seeing the plane that had exploded dropping out of the air, my thoughts turned to George and his mission to draw fire away from us…that could have been him out there. And then Joe took my hand in his and squeezed it tightly, I looked up at him seeing concern in his eyes.

"We're going to be alright." He shouted I nodded and squeezed his hand back; it brought a little comfort to me and momentarily took my mind off of George. More explosions rang around us jostling the plane from side to side, and still Joe held my hand. It was a couple of minutes later that the red light finally came on.

"Get ready." Winters shouted as he stood up at the front of the plane, Joe squeezed my hand one last time before letting go and finding the hook we need to attach to the overhead wire. "Hook up." We all stood up and attached the hooks over our heads; the worry I was feeling was starting to worsen as the time came closer to finally enter the war.

"Equipment check!" Winters shouted and everyone began to check the gear of the person in front of them just like we had done at Fort Benning, the difference being the plane kept being jostled about as it dodged artillery and other planes. "Sound off for equipment check."

"Eight ok." Chuck sounded off as he patted Joe on the arm.

"Seven ok." Joe shouted as he patted me on the arm before I shouted six ok and patting Gene on the arm. And so on until Winters shouted one ok, the light was still red as we were violently jostled to the side making everyone sprawl to the side.

"If we get any lower we won't need a chute." Skip shouted as we all righted ourselves back to a standing position. Joe helped me back up patting me on the shoulder again as I thanked him, hopefully the light would go green soon and we could be finally just get down to the ground. My wish came true and the light went green and everyone began jumping out. As I jumped out it felt like the first time at Fort Benning with my eyes closed, the constant sound of gunfire and explosions immediately made me snap them open and look around. The skies had been lit up as the Germans constantly barraged the oncoming planes with artillery; the ground was littered with burning shells of planes that had been shot out of the sky. Skip had been right, if we'd gotten any lower we wouldn't have needed the chutes to jump. It felt as though as soon as I had jumped I was already pulling the chute back in on the ground. I'd lost my leg bag in the jump and was down a few medical supplies, I quickly tried to get all my gear together and get out of this field to some cover elsewhere. I needed to figure out exactly where I was and find the rest of the company. As I approached the tree line I heard the crunching of twigs and immediately stopped hoping to God it was one of Easy and not a German.

"Flash." A voice called out and I let out the breath I hadn't noticed I'd been holding in.

"Thunder." I returned the person who'd been walking close by came into view, it was Buck. I sighed in relief. "I don't think you know how glad I am to see you."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. I think I've got some good ideas coming up in the next few chapters, well I really hope they're good anyway. And we are finally into the war; I think the next chapter may cover Carentan although it may be the one after that.


	10. Overshot

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 10: Overshot

France, June 1944

It felt so good to have found Buck now we just had to find the rest of the company and find exactly where we had actually ended up. I now hoped that Marie, Val, Matron and Doc Green had all found somebody and at least were in the safety of an armed American soldier, whether they be for the 101st or the 82nd. I didn't want to imagine any of them alone, lost and without a weapon with the enemy completely surrounding us. We'd moved further into the wooded area when we heard some more movement, Buck immediately motioned for us to move behind a large trunk and readied his gun. I took out the clicker and began clicking it to see if it was a friend; it was a better way of finding out whether someone was friendly than shouting flash-thunder.

"Flash." I knew that voice anywhere and I was so relieved to hear it again, Joe had landed safely and we'd found each other quickly.

"Thunder, Liebgott get your ass over here." Buck replied and sure enough Joe came scurrying behind the tree followed by Popeye. It was a relief that neither of them were injured. "Cohen have you got a map of the area?"

"Here." I replied as I scrambled into one of the supply bags and produced a map; Buck took it however it was that dark you couldn't really make out much. I searched through my packs to see if I could find a torch, but Joe beat me to the punch and produced a lighter.

"You're gonna have to crowd round so the light isn't seen." Buck said and the three of us huddled around trying to reduce the light as Buck studied the map. "Damn, we're way off course. We need to head south, everyone keep your eyes peeled for any sort of landmark. Liebgott take point."

We moved quietly away from the open fields and further into the forested area, every now and then our pathway was lit up as artillery was shot up or a plane fell down from the sky, its burning shell lighting up part of the forest. It was a little while into the walk that Joe signalled for us to stop; Buck silently joined him further up the pathway before signalling for us to hide in the cover of a small ditch. Popeye was about to ask what was going on, but Buck shushed him as shortly after a group of German soldiers passed by laughing. Back home when Joe would take me to or from work he'd occasionally teach me a bit of German, granted I wasn't very good at it but I knew what they had said.

"Dumb Americans."

"The way that one cried was pathetic."

"And his friend thought he could save him."

Joe looked like he was about to launch himself up there and take out however many there were out by himself. I put a hand on his shoulder which made him turn his attention away from the road and to me, his eyes were ablaze with a fury I had never seen, I mouthed the words don't to him and shook my head. He relaxed somewhat but he was scowling for the rest of the time we spent in that ditch.

"The coast is clear." Buck whispered as he momentarily poked his head out of cover as the voices went faint, before he jumped up out of the ditch with the rest of us following suite.

"Joe." I whispered trying to get him to calm down was generally a hard task, but even I was infuriated by those words.

"I'm fine." And with that he took point again so I couldn't persist with questioning him about it. That was luckily the last encounter we had with any German soldiers, but the start of the unlucky encounters with some American soldiers. It was around an old farmhouse where we found two unfortunate souls; one had his parachute caught in a tree and by the looks of it had been shot multiple times Buck was searching his corpse for extra ammunition and other supplies. The other unlucky soldier had been at least able to land correctly, but looked to have been trying to save the other soldier from his fate. I couldn't quite bring myself to look through his stuff, even though his extra supplies would go to better use with us than left here, it just felt so improper like desecrating a grave.

"You ok Annie?" Popeye asked as he came over to grab some extra ammunition, I looked at him momentarily before turning to the dead soldier. He still had his eyes open that seemed to stare straight into my soul. "Annie, he'd want us to take the supplies and put them to better use."

"Yeah, yeah I guess you're right there." I mumbled and went to look through his medical supplies but again I my gaze was drawn to his eyes. I sighed trying to convince myself to do this, the more supplies I could get my hands on the better prepared I would be down the line. I closed the soldier's eyes saying a small prayer before searching his supply bag for his medical kit. After I took it Buck came over and took the soldier's dog tags so that his family could be informed of his passing.

"We've just got a little further to go." Buck stated as he consulted the map once more and then we were on our way again, Joe still taking point. It was just before sunrise that we had finally managed to arrive in the town of Saint Marie du Mont, there wasn't many of the Airborne there yet but if their jump had gone as well as ours had they were probably all over the place and it would take time to regroup. The one thing that had been set up in the town was the field hospital which already looked to be busy.

"Looks like my work is already starting." I stated as Joe sat down with his back up against a mound of dirt, Popeye followed suite while Buck left to talk with some higher ups further into town.

"You need some rest." Joe stated as he patted the ground next to him before lighting a cigarette, and then he offered me one which I took graciously.

"While I'd love a sit down, I can't just let some poor bloke suffer when I could be helping him." I replied besides within that field hospital the others could have made it safely.

"Don't overdo it." He said and it was nice for once to have someone be worried about your wellbeing, as it was always my job to worry.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." And with that I headed on over to the tent praying to God that the others had made it safely. As I got nearer the sounds of pained groans got loader which made me hurry up more, there was definitely work to be done. "How can I help?" I asked as I entered throwing down some of the extra supplies onto a table that had been shoved into the corner.

"Annie! Oh thank God you've made it!" Marie exclaimed as she ran over before pulling me into a hug, I was so relieved to see her but then I properly looked at her and saw she was covered in blood. "Oh none of this is my blood, don't worry."

"I'm guessing you need some help here." I stated as I took off my helmet and laid it on the table, there was only another two medics in the tent both tending to several soldiers who were constantly groaning in pain.

"The more help we can get the better we are." One of the other medics replied he was currently bandaging the head of one of the soldiers who looked as though he'd been hit by some shrapnel in the face. I approached one of the soldiers who was in need of some attention, he had some severe burns on his arms and face.

"Hi there I'm Anna, this may hurt a bit but you'll be alright." I said smiling slightly in a reassuring manner as I started to remove part of his shirt sleeve out of the burnt skin as he hissed in pain.

"I'm so stupid." He muttered as I gave him so reprieve from removing the shirt.

"Honey, you're not stupid."

"I got dragged into a fire by my parachute when I should have got it into control." He grumbled I mean it was an easy thing to happen especially with all the planes that had been shot out of the sky.

"Don't blame yourself, that landing was total chaos, more than half the regiment are lost." I assured before I resumed treating his arms and then moved onto the burns on the right side of his face, luckily for him the burns would heal nicely they'd leave some scars for sure but other than that he'd be fine. "Right all done, wasn't so bad right?"

"Thank you." He said trying to smile a bit but the pain from the burns hampered his ability to do so. I would have talked to him for longer to make him feel better, but there was more work to be done. There was a continuous stream of wounded men being brought in, some had similar burns to the first soldier I'd treated, some needed bullets removing from them and others had shrapnel littered in their body. There were one or two cases of men with fully amputated limbs and one or two that needed one limb removing because there was no hope in recovering it.

"How are you coping?" Marie asked there was a temporary reprieve as all the patients we had, had been seen to. We were still waiting on the arrival of Val, Matron and Doc Green.

"Yeah, I think I'd be a lot happier if the others got their asses here." I replied as took a drag of the cigarette I had lit, the pair of us were sat outside of the tent within earshot if we were needed. A couple of other medics from different companies had made their way here and the four of us that had initially been treating people were given a much needed break. "How are you coping?"

"Yeah I'm worried about the others as well. I'd have thought at least we'd meet up as we'd jumped out the same plane." She answered as she rubbed her forehead before sighing loudly. "I mean Doc Green had to tend to Cobb right before we jumped out the plane, so I guess he jumped later than any of us, or he didn't jump at all."

"Yeah Val jumped before me, but only a couple of people in front of me same with Gene. But I didn't see her at all, I was just lucky Buck found me."

"Yeah some guys from Abel company found me and we managed to avoid any unnecessary firefights." She explained I hoped the others had been found by any of our soldiers and were on their way here, thinking of anything but that was just too depressing. "Think George is alright?"

"I hope so, I don't really want to think about the alternative." I answered I wouldn't know either way until the assault was over and we had a direct supply line to the front or whenever we'd be brought back to England. "How do you think Johnny is getting on in the Pacific?"

"I like to think he's doing alright." She replied. "It'd have been nice to see him before our jump, but I can't really complain that much about it."

A couple more hours of treating the incoming wounded and having mini breaks, the arrival of Lieutenant Winters, Toye, Guarnere and Malark was a welcomed sight, especially since Matron arrived along with them.

"Thank the Lord, you're alright." I exclaimed as she entered the medical tent stowing her medical supplies on the same table I had done previously.

"Who's made it?" she asked as she immediately got to work on a soldier with a piece of shrapnel sticking out of his thigh.

"So far it's me, you and Marie." I replied as I handed her some bandages to use on him.

"I'm sure the others will make it back soon." She stated I hoped she was right about that. "We all might as well enjoy the quiet before Val arrives with her loud mouth."

Another hour or so passed since she arrived and we were then graced with the presence of Lieutenant Winters.

"Lieutenant, what can we do for you?" Matron asked as we all saluted if we could and weren't currently seeing to a patient.

"I lost some medical supplies in the jump, is there any chance I can get a resupply?" he asked I think everyone had lost something in the jump, the leg bags seemed to have been an awful idea.

"Don't worry Lieutenant; we've got quite a bit of extras." Matron replied motioning for him to come over to the table that everyone seemed to be dumping extra supplies on. "Take what you need, just bring it back if it goes unused. There's no telling when we're going to get a resupply."

"Thank you, you're all doing an excellent job." He thanked before leaving the tent and leaving us to tend to some more soldiers. It was at least an hour later, sometime just after midday when Popeye was brought into the hospital.

"What happened?" I asked as Popeye was taken off the stretcher and put onto a free bed; clearly his injury was on his back as he was laid down on his front.

"I'm real sorry 'bout this." Popeye kept saying as we gathered up supplies to treat him, he'd been shot in the ass…not something I'd thought we'd be treating but there's always a first for things.

"Honey, its fine."

"Just promise us, once we patch you up you don't stick your ass out and get shot again." Matron added luckily for him the bullet hadn't lodged that far in and it was an easy extraction with little interior damage.

"I promise is it bad?" he asked as Matron finished cleaning the wound out and requested the bandages to wrap the wound up.

"I mean I've seen worse today, but you ain't going to be able to properly sit down for a while." I answered smiling at him reassuringly he'd have to be sent back to England, but he'd at least live to tell a very bizarre tale.

"There we go all done, that wasn't so bad was it?" Matron asked as she put the bandages back with the best of the supplies and carefully pulled the bed covers over him. "You'll be sent back to England to recover, but I'm sure you'll be back with us in no time."

"Thank you." He said he sounded somewhat disheartened by the fact he was being sent back to England, maybe he thought he was failing Easy by being sent back, but if he stayed and his wound got infected it could end a lot worse for him. As our focus had been with Popeye for most the time it had taken our minds of Val and Doc Green who had still not shown up and now with the most of the Company filing it, it was getting a lot more concerning they hadn't shown up.

"Cohen, you deserve a break." Matron stated as I'd been in the process of cleaning up some of the supplies all the while my mind was wandering elsewhere. Marie took over from me as I headed out of the tent and sat down just outside to make sure if I was needed I could immediately run back in.

"What's up?" I was shaken from my thoughts when Joe sat down next to me offering me some of the rations he was currently eating. I declined even though I was starting to get hungry.

"Val and Doc Green have yet to show up, I thought they may have made it by now especially since both Gene and Spina have made it here." I replied rubbing my temples to relieve the headache that was starting to come on.

"I'm sure they're fine and they'll get here any second now."

"I think that's wishful thinking." I muttered after Gene and Spina had showed up the little bit of me that had been thinking they were fine was slowly slipping away and now all I could think was they'd been captured or killed, especially since they we're unarmed.

"Annie, believe they are alright and they will be." He insisted before taking my hand and placing his rations in my hand. "You need to worry about yourself."

"Thank you." I muttered as I bit into what I assumed was some form of cracker or bread. "How'd the attack on the garrison go?"

"It went fine, other than Popeye took a shot to the ass." He answered before he then gave me a brief description of what had gone down. "Malarkey is lucky to be alive; you should have seen him run out into the line of fire to try and find a damn luger."

"Lord, he is lucky. Next time I see him he's getting clocked on the head."

"Then he may avoid you for a while." Joe laughed though that probably would be true. Surely he knew how stupid that was of him to run into the line of fire just to find a damn gun, someone nearly needed to talk to both him and Hoobler about their quest to find this gun. "Toye was one lucky son of a bitch too, escaped two grenade blasts."

"Jeez, and you said it went fine." I said finally finishing the ration which was probably the worst thing I'd eaten in my life. He shrugged as he lighted one of his cigarettes.

"I mean no one died."

"But there was nearly three deaths." I argued which just made him shrug again.

"Like I said, no one died." He replied I sighed sure I guess we had to take small victories where we could and losing nobody was one them, even if Popeye was being shipped back to England.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. I think I've got some good ideas coming up in the next few chapters, well I really hope they're good anyway. And we are finally into the war; the next chapter will definitely start Carentan and then probably the next one after that will be back to Aldbourne.


	11. Carentan

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 11: Carentan

I'd had to leave Joe when Alley was brought in; he'd landed on some broken glass and needed immediate attention. It was a welcome distraction to thinking about where the hell Doc Green and Val were right now. It was a simple enough procedure removing the glass out of him and patching him back up, he'd stay in the hospital to make sure he healed and then more than likely be shipped back to England with Popeye. It was night-time before we knew it and I felt exhausted having pretty much been running on little sleep from before we jumped. As we had enough medics to cover the field hospital now; Marie, Matron and I were now sat eating a dinner we had fashioned out of our rations, it tasted somewhat better than what Joe had given me earlier.

"Who is still missing?" Marie asked breaking the silence we had been sitting in, everyone was worried about everyone that still hadn't found us.

"I haven't seen Tab, Shifty or Smokey round the place. And I don't think I've seen Chuck either or Blithe for that matter." I replied knowing she wanted to talk about the whereabouts of Val and Doc Green, but I just didn't want to broker that topic.

"Lieutenant Meehan has yet to show up as well, it looks likely that Winters will take command over Easy." Matron added she too had avoided saying anything about Val or Doc Green.

"And obviously Val and Doc Green aren't here."

"Well then let's hope they've found each other." Matron suggested as she finished off her food and set about clearing up, even if the food tasted awful we couldn't waste any in fear of supplies running low. The sounds of the landings on the beaches rang out throughout the night, at first it hampered me from falling asleep, but soon exhaustion set in.

"Rise and shine Annie." A voice permeated my sleep I thought I was still dreaming as that voice could only belong to one person, but she still hadn't appeared. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and slowly rose from where I had been sleeping on the floor of one of the abandoned houses. And low and behold in the room stood Val.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed as I jumped up and ran over to her hugging her tightly; I couldn't believe she had actually made it back to us.

"Hey don't squeeze too hard you'll break my ribs." She laughed but she equally hugged me back as tight.

"Where the hell have you been? We all thought we'd lost you for good." I asked as I let her go hopefully her arrival also meant everyone else we were missing had found their way here too.

"Aww shucks Annie, were you worrying about little old me?" she replied with a big grin on her face, which made me hit her on the arm, I had truly been worried about her. "Ow, Jesus what was that for? Do you want me to end up in the hospital?"

"This isn't fucking funny Val, I thought you were dead or captured." I stated which dampened her spirits as her smile left her face.

"I'm sorry Annie, I landed far away from the actual DZ." She started to explain what had happened, how her chute had been caught up in a gust of wind and blew her a while away from where we were actually meant to land. "Luckily I found Doc Green and then we found Tab and Shifty. And then as we came a bit further to where we were meant to land we bumped into Smokey and Chuck. Just as we got into town we bumped into Blithe who was looking a bit lost."

"Thank God, we've got everyone then." I said before realising Meehan was still unaccounted for. "Lieutenant Meehan still hasn't showed up?"

"No, they're thinking the worst. Winters is taking over." She replied hopefully it wasn't the worst case and he simply was extremely lost, but it wasn't looking good. "It seems like we're already moving out, to Carentan."

"What we're all going?" I asked as I quickly grabbed my things and raked a hand through my unruly hair trying at least to look a little bit presentable before I chucked my helmet on. "No one's staying behind to man the field hospital?"

"Matron, Doc Green and Spina are staying behind to man it with some other medics from various companies. That leaves me, you, Marie and Gene in the field."

"Right then, best we get going." I said as I hugged her once more not quite believing she was actually in front of me and dragged her with me to find the others. We found them gathered in front of the field hospital; Matron was handing out supplies to Gene and Marie, with Doc Green at her side. I ran over to him and gave him a hug, my earlier prediction of it being weird didn't hold at all, it felt just like the countless times I'd hugged my dad.

"I'm glad to see you too Anna." He laughed as I let go of him Matron cleared her throat.

"A little more professionalism I think is required Nurse Cohen."

"Screw professionalism, she thought we were both dead. I think we can afford a few hugs if it'll improve our mental health." Val argued I mean her point was valid, but there was probably a better way of getting it across than yelling it at Matron.

"How many times do I have to tell you Kent?" Matron began but thought better than to fully bring up her attitude issues when really we needed to prepare for the assault on Carentan. "Everyone needs to check their supplies, make sure you have more than enough to go out there with. Doc Green, myself and a few other medics will man the field hospital so that any soldier that needs to be taken off the line will be looked after quickly."

The main square of the town was now bustling with activity all nine companies had finally gathered together, there were still a few missing members of each company, most notably being Lieutenant Meehan whose plane had gone down but no one was quite sure whether he was alive or not. Luz had finally arrived along with several men from Abel Company, we heard him approaching before we even saw him coming. Tab and Joe were comparing flags they'd found, Tab had what looked like camouflage while Joe had the Swastika flag.

"Boys will always brag." Val stated as she observed them all comparing the loot they'd gotten.

"Let them have their fun." Gene said laughing along with the rest of us, soon Welsh gathered everyone around explaining what we were about to do.

"I want light and noise discipline from here on out." He stated before adding. "And no playing grab fanny with the soldier in front Luz." Which made the entire company chuckle, Hoobler offered to take point and we all fell in to march on behind. Gene and I were pretty much with second platoon again, while Marie and Val were up front with first platoon. Toye, Guarnere and Buck walked closer to me and Gene while the rest of the platoon spread out around us.

"Another thing to remember boys," Luz's voice hollered in his General Taylor impression. "Flies spread disease, so keep yours closed."

The march to Carentan wasn't as straight forward as it had seemed to begin with, after losing the other companies several times in the middle of the night we were on the final approach to the town. The town was atop of a gravel hill that was flanked by two ditches; the company was steadily moving up towards it with first platoon leading the way. Just before we reached the precipice of the hill we were told to halt by Winters, who hurried up to Welsh and they began to hash out a plan.

"Doing alright chéri?" Gene whispered as we crouched there for a long while which made my legs cramp up a bit.

"Yeah, are you?" I replied he nodded and then before we knew it we were moving up the hill again, but then all of a sudden gunfire sounded all around us. Everyone dove for the ditches either side of the road I ended up being pushed down by Guarnere with Gene on one side of the road. Winters, Nixon and Buck within a minute were pushing everyone forward into the town, Gene and I ended up following behind Guarnere into the town along with Lipton through a field around the side from the main road. Lipton began aiming for the machine gun nest that was aiming for the main road, when another soldier stepped out of cover to tell him there was a sniper, before being hit by said sniper. He was dragged back in so Gene and I could dig the bullet out, stop the bleeding and bandage him off before sending him back off to the aid station set up a few metres away from town.

"You alright?" Gene asked once more this time yelling it over the sheer noise of the gunfire. I nodded as wiped the blood off of my hands, Shifty was further down the streets and managed to take out the sniper before the machine gun nest was taken out by a grenade. Gene followed Guarnere and a small squad as they went round the houses one way, while I followed Lipton and Perconte further up the road. The other soldier in our little squad was picked off by a stray bullet, I was about to see if he needed help, but Lip pulled me back.

"He's already gone, Annie." He stated loudly I looked down at the poor guy and what Lip said was true, there was no way in saving him. I looked over towards the other side of the road to see Shifty against the wall. "You ok Shifty?" He nodded and put two thumbs up before he moved along with us into the main street.

"MEDIC!"

"Be careful Annie." Lipton yelled as I ran down the street diving down next to two soldiers, one had been shot in the leg which I dealt with quickly allowing the other soldier to move him out of the town and hopefully back to the field hospital. I continuously moved between cover to and from those yelling for a medic, I prayed everyone I saw to would make recoveries and be as right as rain in the next couple of days. All of sudden mortars rained down on us as buildings exploded left right and centre, I was tending to a wounded soldier when the building behind us exploded outwards showering us in dust and brick. When I was sure the worst of it was over I started to aid him again, but he had unfortunately passed his lifeless eyes gazed up to the sky.

"I'm sorry." I whispered as I closed his eyes and prayed for him and his family, and then all of a sudden I was hauled off to the side. Once I gathered my bearings I realised it was Joe and Tipper who'd pulled me into cover. "Are you two ok?"

"We're fine; you on the other hand were in the line of fire." Joe replied as we followed Tipper down the road. "Stay here."

"Fuck's sake." I muttered as he and Tipper moved onto a building across the way, what did he think I was going to do if the call for medic happened again? Just sit here and wait for him to escort me to the poor guy? "Are you two ok?" I asked the other two soldiers that had been with Tipper and Joe, they both nodded. It wasn't that long until Joe came back out of the building and motioned for us to join him further down the street. No doubt he'd already told Tipper where we'd be heading, just as we had gone onto the adjacent building the front of the one Tipper was still in exploded outwards cascading dust, glass and brickwork out into the street. Joe pulled me against another wall to avoid the blast but I was still nicked across the arm by some glass or brickwork.

"You ok?" he asked as he looked down at me and noticed the cut across my arm, concern taking over him completely as he reached down to look at it closely but I shook him off.

"I'm fine it's a scratch, we need to find Tipper." I replied as I walked back up the street as fast as I could in the low visibility with Joe directly behind me.

"Tipper!" he shouted I hoped he'd reply to us allowing us to find him a lot quicker, I also hoped for some sort of a miracle that he wasn't in that building when the explosion went off. "Tip! Tipper! Tip, answer me!" As we came up to the store front we were greeted by a horrifically injured Tipper, I immediately stopped gasping as grabbed onto Joe. Tipper had somehow forced himself to walk on two broken legs, the bones of which stuck out in many angles. His face was covered in blood and one eye was completely shut, no wonder he was waving his gun widely at the four of us.

"Joe is that you?" he asked his voice wavered he was completely terrified. Joe dropped his gun slowly and walked over to him.

"Looking good Tip, looking real good. Come on buddy, you've got to sit down." Joe said quietly as he took Tipper's weight and led him down to the side of the wall. The pair of them sat down with Joe hugging him close to his body, I shook myself out of my state of shock and immediately sat down with them unhooking my supply bag and placing it on Joe's knees. "Jesus."

"Hey honey, could you look up at me for a second." I said softly as I began tending to his facial wounds first, his left eye was completely damaged there was no way that was going to be repaired.

"Annie's here and she's going to take real good care of you." Joe whispered reassuringly as he kept him steady for me, his breathing was coming out rapidly as he tried to calm himself down. Once I finished patching his face up I moved down checking his torso which was ok for the most part just littered with small gashes.

"Alright, you're doing brilliantly Tip." I said smiling at him before I looked down at his mangled legs; no matter what we were able to do he was never going to walk again. "Sweetheart this may hurt a lot, ok? I'm going to try and numb the pain with some morphine." I grabbed a syrette and administered it before I even tried to figure out how I was going to tend to his legs. I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut away the torn trousers from the bottom of his legs, this caused him to panic a bit more at the sight of the extent of the wounds.

"It's alright Tip, you're in great hands." Joe said reassuringly trying to calm him down, I placed a hand on his cheek.

"Don't worry, it looks worse than it actually is." I said softly before I decided the best course of action was to bind them as best I could and get him back to the field hospital as fast as possible. We'd have to settle for the temporary aid station for now though. "Keep looking at Joe for me; it'll take your mind off things."

"Hear that Tip? D'ya suppose that's her way of saying I'm handsome?" Joe joked as I got to work cleaning the blood away as best I could with an open wound and wrapping both legs in bandages with some make shift splints either side of the legs.

"He wishes." I muttered shaking my head; Tipper managed a small smile at least at our antics which made me feel better about the situation. "Right let's get you out of here."

"Guys, you want to give us a hand here?" he asked I'd completely forgotten about the other two soldiers that had been with us, but now I was thankful as they managed to scrounge up a makeshift stretcher allowing us to carry him out of danger. Hopefully Gene, Marie and Val were able to cope without me for a while as Tipper needed more of my attention. As we reached somewhere safer, not quite reaching the aid station as the continuous movement was causing him some pain, I continued looking over him as I reached up with my left arm to inspect his right arm when I felt a sharp twinge of pain and immediately stopped my arm. "You're injured."

"It's nothing." I muttered as I tried to reach over again but the pain came back, it must have been where I was hit in the blast. Joe grabbed my arm and opened up the tear in my shirt where the debris had cut through.

"That's not nothing Annie." He stated I tried to shake off his grasp; Tipper needed more of my attention than my arm did. "You need to patch that up; Tip is going to be fine for a couple of minutes." He let go allowing me to move my arm back, I looked over the wound and realised it was worse than I first had thought it was. It was deeper than a scratch and I'd probably have to stitch it closed.

"Joe can you grab me the rubbing alcohol out of my bag please?" I asked as I opened the tear in my shirt more so that it wouldn't stick into the wound, he immediately handed me the bottle. "Right here's what's going to happen; I'm going to have to stitch this closed, Joe you are going to make sure Tip is alright for the amount of time I've got to do this for, Tip you just sit there and look as handsome as ever."

"She called me handsome Joe." Tipper said happily at least that had made him a bit happier in the current situation. Joe laughed and nodded along.

"So she did Tip." He agreed as he kept a close eye on him for me, I poured some of the rubbing alcohol onto a clean rag I had in my supply bag and start to pat around the area of the wound cleaning away any dirt and blood that stuck to the skin. I hissed slightly as pain flared in my arm, immediately drawing Joe's attention. "Are you alright?"

"Fine Joe, just stings like a bitch is all." I muttered as I opened the stitching case open and threaded the needle. I took a deep breath as I readied myself to stitch it myself, I thanked God it was at least my left arm that needed attention, meaning I could stitch properly with my right hand. I grimaced in pain as the first couple of stitches went in hissing every now and again, which made Joe glance my way every now and again concern set in his face. Luckily I was quick enough and the wound was small enough that I was finished in a couple of minutes. "All done."

"Thank God." Joe muttered as I wrapped a bandage around the now stitched up wound. And then I was back to tending to Tipper, lucky for him the field hospital had moved closer and once the Krauts had been cleared out it had been set up in one of the abandoned buildings. We moved him to it and there he was able to receive a better solution to his legs.

"You got any wounds I need to deal with?" I asked Joe as Doc Green, who had joined us along with the rest of the medics from Saint Marie du Mont, took over care for Tipper.

"No, I'm fine." He answered I was about to ask him again, as Joe was someone who didn't like to be fussed about, when Tab came bustling through the door supporting Lipton. "Jesus."

"What happened?" I asked as Joe helped Tab bring him through and up onto one of the beds further into the building.

"Mortar blast." Tab replied as I set about fixing the wounds to his face, but he seemed somewhat more concerned about something else.

"Did you give him morphine for this?" I asked looking at the empty syrette packaging attached to Lip's jacket, not quite understanding why he would have been in so much pain for the cut on his face.

"Err, Annie it's not just his face." Tab explained I looked over him once more realising I'd missed the blood around his groin. Well I mean Popeye's shot to the ass was one thing, it seemed Lip had taken a mortar shot to the groin. "Don't worry everything is still intact."

"You're one lucky bastard." Joe muttered I now knew why he seemed occupied with something else.

"Sorry Annie." He muttered much like how Popeye had apologised when I had had to treat his gunshot wound to the ass.

"You guys really need to stop apologising for getting wounded." I sighed as I grabbed some more supplies and brought them over to Lip. "Right you two can give Lip some privacy, and if you see Gene or Spina send them my way would you."

"Yes ma'am." They both said and with that they exited the room closing the door behind them.

"I really am sorry Annie; I know it's something you'd rather not see."

"You do know I'm a fully trained staff nurse right? And before this I worked on general surgery, I've seen my fair share vasectomies and what not." I explained as I undid his belt and helped him shimmy out of his pants far enough for the wound to be revealed. "There ain't nothing I haven't seen, especially with a brother who used to hate bath time so much he'd run away from my mother as naked as the day he was born." He at least chuckled at that as I set to work on cleaning out the wound, he was extremely lucky another couple of inches left and he really would be missing his crown jewels.

"Still Annie…" he began but I waved him off from apologising once more.

"Besides we didn't even have to remove your underwear for me to fix this." I said as I got a needle and thread out to stitch it up, at that point Gene came through the door closing it behind me. "Hi Gene, I don't think I need you right now, unless Lip you'd rather he'd stitch you up down here?"

"What happened?" Gene asked as he came round the bed to where I was sat on a chair about to stitch him up.

"Mortar blast to the groin, nearly took out his dick." I answered which made Lip blush a little.

"Annie…" he groaned sounding rather embarrassed, did men really think all women were blushing violets? Even if they'd been in the nursing profession for a while and had learnt the ins and outs of every system in the human body, whether it be female or male.

"What? I'm just explaining what happened to him, no need for beating around the bush."

"I think I'll take stitching him down there and you can sort out the cut on his face." Gene said in a matter of fact way, I just nodded and allowed Gene to sit down as I moved back to his face.

"Is this better Lip?" I asked as I gathered some more clean rags to clean the wound on his face, he nodded probably feeling less embarrassed now. "Great, now this may hurt a bit." With Gene and I seeing to both his wounds at the same time, it took a lot less time than it would have if one of us was dealing with him. He thanked us after we brought him through to the rest of the building where others that had been seen to where now waiting to be transferred out, Tab and Joe were both out there.

"Feeling better Lip?" Tab asked as he helped us sit him down in one of the chairs littering the hallway. He nodded and thanked both Gene and I again.

"All in a day's work, are the both of you alright?" I asked they both nodded before I turned round to Gene. "You're not injured either are you?"

"No."

"Great, have you seen Tipper or is Doc Green still looking him over?" I asked but Joe shook his head I would have to definitely check up on him after the rest of the wounded were looked over. "I'll look in on him in a minute, you two best get out of here and get some rest or food, Lord knows Matron will come through any minute and usher you out."

They both nodded and left the building hopefully finding somewhere to rest and eat something. Gene and I returned to our work, with Gene tending to Lieutenant Winters who'd taken some ricochet to the leg. Blithe was brought in by another soldier saying he'd gone completely blind, we set him in a corner for the time being as there was nothing physically wrong with his eyes and he currently wasn't in a life threatening situation.

"Ah you made it!" Val exclaimed clapping me on my injured left arm which made me wince in pain.

"Ow!"

"What? Oh hell you got hit didn't you let's see." Val said as she grasped my arm and pulled sleeve up before taking the bandage off. "Who stitched you up?"

"I did." I replied which made her laugh out loud.

"What's funny?" It was Marie who has just come out of one of the side rooms, Val pointed towards my arm.

"Annie here stitched up her own wound." Val responded allowing Marie to get a good look at my arm.

"Damn, that's good stitching though."

"Well if you want something doing right you do it yourself." I muttered as I pulled my arm away and reached for a new bandage before I was stopped by Val.

"Ah, I'll bandage it for you." She said as she took the bandages from my hands and began wrapping it round my arm before tying it off and pulling down my sleeve. "Marie do you have any injuries?"

"Nope, do you?"

"No, so it's just Annie here who managed to get dinged by something." Val joked I shook my head and shoved her slightly.

"Lay off, a building exploded with Tipper inside. I got caught by some debris." I explained the knowledge that Tipper had been caught up in a blast stopped any joking around.

"Is he alright?" Marie asked both of them now looked more serious than they had done a minute ago.

"Doc Green is looking over him right now, but I don't think he's ever going to walk again and I think he's lost sight in his left eye." I answered the pair of them looked incredibly sad at that news; there were several soldiers that had lost limbs in the siege on Carentan all of whom were lucky to make it out it alive. This was only the start to what felt like a long road of aiding them all.

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Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. I think I've got some good ideas coming up in the next few chapters, well I really hope they're good anyway. I think the next chapter will be the final bit of the fighting before Easy is taken of the line and brought back to England.


	12. Edelweiss

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

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Till the End of the Line

Chapter 12: Edelweiss

After working the aid station for a couple of hours and making sure Tipper was alright, to which he thanked me profusely and told me he was going back home, I was relieved of duty for a while and medics from different companies took over. Matron insisted on looking over the wound I had on my left arm after Val had mentioned it to her.

"You're lucky you're good at stitching, otherwise I'd be pulling them out and redoing it myself." She remarked as she bandaged it up again before instructing us all to get some food and a rest because we'd be moving out again shortly. The sun at least shone down on us as we all gathered in the centre of the town, we'd sat down next to Skip, Penkala, Alton and Malark who were all eating German rations.

"Ladies, need some more food?" Skip asked as he offered us something that reminded me of off meat.

"Listening to you talk about how bad that stuff tastes has put me off for life." Val replied as she settled for the rations we already had, which didn't taste great but by the sounds of it tasted better than whatever the Germans were eating.

"It's not that bad." Malarkey remarked which made us all laugh.

"If that's the way you go on about food you say doesn't taste that bad, I'd hate to see what you think good food is." I retorted declining the offer for whatever the hell they were eating. Soon other soldiers joined us including Blithe who lay down silently and looked up at the sky. "Are you feeling better Blithe?"

"Uh-huh." He mumbled I frowned slightly something wasn't a hundred percent right with him, but it wasn't anything physical it was mental and that was a whole different kettle of fish to deal with. Talk then turned to a member of Dog Company, Speirs, who apparently had shot every German prisoner at Saint Marie du Mont after giving them a cigarette.

"That sounds unbelievable." I said surely someone wouldn't do that even if it was war, but Skip was adamant it had happened.

"Malarkey was there." He stated but Malarkey just shook his head and said he hadn't seen anything.

"See so how can we know for sure that's true?" Marie asked if Skip's only eye witness said he hadn't been there then his whole point had unravelled.

"A rumour has gotta start from somewhere." He replied and that was true, what was the saying? There's no smoke without fire. "What'd you think Blithe?"

"I wasn't there, I can only go on what people are saying." He replied his mind simply not interested in the conversation we were having, hopefully he'd be back to his usual self after a while although I couldn't see that happening anytime soon with Easy being at the forefront of everything. Soon we were moving out again, to push back any German counter strike on the town. This time all the medics assigned to Easy were leaving the town leaving behind a team from variant companies that was except Doc Green who stayed behind to look over Tipper, meaning at some point Matron would be nagging me over my arm. Luckily she was further up the field we were currently walking in with first platoon along with Val, while I was back with Gene with second platoon and finally bringing up the rear was Marie and Spina with third platoon.

"How was Tipper doing?" Joe asked as he walked beside me, second platoon seemed to be taking a lot more casualties than either of the other two of Easy. Lip, Popeye and Tipper were all England bound for the time being, and well Tipper wasn't going to be coming back to the line at all.

"He's stable, we did the best we could for him but I don't think he'll ever walk or see out of his left eye again." I replied it was better than sugar coating the situation even if it did make Joe frown. "He's alive at least."

"At least he'll be going home." Joe added that was true at least he'd be able to recover a little bit better surrounded by his family and loved ones. "How's Lip…" He was about to ask how Lipton was doing before gunfire started to erupt further up the field and we were all directed to get into the hedgerow. Joe pulled me to his side and all but dragged me into the hedgerow as the firefight began. Thankfully no one was injured, making my life a lot easier, and the battle ceased for a while allowing us all to get some rest. I left Joe to make rounds just to make sure no one was injured and had remained quiet about it.

"All ok here?" I asked as came up on another foxhole dug into the hedges, where Webster and Hoobler were holed up for the evening.

"Much better seeing your pretty face Annie." Hoobler replied grinning widely ever since hearing that Malarkey had nearly been killed running out into the line of fire to get a luger, I'd decided to keep a closer eye on both him and Hoobs, since the pair of them seemed to be obsessed with finding the damn gun.

"Aww such a charmer." I replied smiling back at him before turning toward Web. "No injuries or illnesses?"

"No ma'am."

"Good keep it that way boys." I said cheerily, "Get some rest while you can." And with that I moved on only to bump into Matron. "Evening Matron."

"Good evening Anna, how's the arm?" she asked immediately as her hands moved towards my left arm, however with the poor light there was no point in looking over it again and so she dropped her hands back to her side.

"It's fine." I replied and honestly it was sure occasionally I forgot I had stitches in and moved it suddenly and felt the pull of them.

"No pain or sign of infection?" she questioned making me feel like I was being interrogated when we could have been using our time better by checking on everyone. I was about to reply when somebody yelled for a medic and I ran back down the line, no doubt Matron was probably behind me. I came upon the sight of Talbert leaning heavily against a tree clutching his torso while Smith kept apologising profusely, Joe had arrived before me and was trying to calm the pair of them down.

"I'm so sorry; I thought he was a German."

"What happened?" I asked as I quickly approached Talbert already seeing the blood oozing between his fingers, at least it was oozing and not spurting.

"He stabbed me, I said it was me. Jesus Christ, the idiot stabbed me." Tab began explaining as Smith started apologising loudly in tears at what he had done. At this point Gene came up at my side demanding to know what had happened which Tab again started to explain. "He stabbed me."

"Alright here's what's going to happen; Joe I need your lighter, Tab I need you to sit down a bit for now keep the pressure on that wound, Gene antiseptic clean rags and sulpha packets. And Smith please calm down." I ordered as the men immediately did what I had told them, except Smith was still whimpering about how sorry he was. "Tab's going to be fine Smith, Joe calm him down will you. He's worse than a wailing banshee."

"Everything in order here Cohen?" Matron had finally arrived on seen with Val, Marie and Spina. At least the call for medic had been heard by everyone.

"Yeah, Gene and I can handle this."

"Good, once he's stable enough move him back to the field hospital." She ordered before shooing the others away to make rounds again just to check everyone is still alright. I turned my attention back to Tab shifting to his left so as I could shield the light as best I could, so that both Gene and I could see what we were working with.

"Right Tab I want you to slowly move your hands and move your shirt upwards." I stated he nodded slightly and began to move his shirt up hissing with pain as the fabric stuck to his wounds. "You're doing fine Tab."

"Doesn't look that deep." Gene said as he poured the sulpha onto the open wounds making Tab hiss more in pain.

"You need morphine?"

"No, just stings like a bitch." He hissed shaking his head maybe trying to put a braver face on. Once Gene was satisfied with his work he set about cleaning the area around the wound, once that was done I wrapped bandages around him tightly.

"Right let's get you back for a proper look over." I said patting him on the shoulder; Gene went to find a stretcher or at least a makeshift one. "How are you doing Smith?" I asked turning round to where Smith was sniffling in his foxhole with Joe next to him.

"Is he going to be alright?" he asked sniffling more he'd probably panicked once he realised it was Talbert and thought he'd killed a friend, something I wouldn't like to experience at all.

"I mean I'm sure he's not all too happy about his injuries, but he's going to be absolutely fine." I said smiling at him but maybe the joke wasn't in the best taste.

"I'll be much better when the beautiful nurses are all fussin' over me." Tab joked and if he hadn't been injured I would have hit him lightly. But his joke had made all the difference with Smith who seemed to be a little bit happier, Joe shook his head at Tab's antics.

"Hey am I not a beautiful nurse?"

"Annie, of course I meant you too." He replied given me his brightest smile he could manage with the pain he must have been in, granted the idiot could be hopped up on morphine right about now.

"Hear that Gene, he's calling us beautiful." I joked as Gene got back with the stretcher which made them all laugh.

"That's awful nice of him."

"I aim to please." Tab replied as we helped him onto the stretcher and manoeuvred him out of the foxhole and back out onto our side of the field.

"Smith, you going to be alright?" Joe asked to which he received a nod. "I'm going to escort these three back to the aid station, I'll get someone to keep you company." And then Joe disappeared for a minute down the line before he came back with Malarkey who took up residency with Smith for the night. We moved silently and quickly back across the field and within a short amount of time we had made it back to the outskirts of Carentan where the field hospital had moved to.

"Multiple stab wounds to the lower torso, not deep but need a thorough inspection and stitching." I explained to the lead medic who had come up to us as we put Tab down on one of the beds. "He said the pain was not bad enough for morphine, but I suggest giving him a dose especially before stitching him up."

"Good, he'll be fine with us." The medic replied and started immediately on him just as Gene got the stretcher out from underneath him.

"Thanks guys." Tab hollered as we bid him goodbye, before leaving the hospital I made sure to restock on supplies reminding Gene to do the same.

"Everyone alright, no one has got any injuries we need to get seen to while we're here?" I asked and the pair of them shook their heads.

"No ma'am."

"Jeez, either Anna or Cohen calling me ma'am makes me feel old." I grumbled as we started the walk back to the hedgerow where the rest of Easy were holed up. Joe laughed loudly trying but failing to try to be quiet while Gene snickered quietly.

"Hey, you're older than Doc Roe." Joe added laughing as I pushed him away nearly pushing him into a thicket of brambles. "Watch it, you could've injured me."

"Yeah then you're sorry ass would have to stay here, and you'd be out of my hair." I retorted making him laugh some more. Everyone quieted down as we got further away from the town and back to the hedgerows, it was early morning when we finally got back. Joe and Gene went back to check on Smith, while I went to track down Matron who I found asleep in her foxhole with Val next to her.

"Matron." I said quietly shaking her gently to make sure she didn't panic if I woke her up to quickly.

"What is it?" she grumbled as she shifted slightly as if she wanted to get away from me and go back to sleep.

"Just checking back in, we got Talbert back to the field hospital he's going to be fine." I informed her which didn't seem to register with her in her sleep addled state, but then it seemed to sink in.

"Good, inform Lieutenant Winters." She ordered before telling me he was further down the hedgerow, I bid her farewell and moved on down the line to where I found Nixon, Welsh and Winters gathered together.

"Sir." I greeted Winters saluting him as he saluted back. "Talbert has been moved to the field hospital for further treatment before being shipped back to England for recovery."

"How'd he get injured?" Nixon asked groggily clearly he'd only just gotten up.

"Talbert had come to find Smith to inform him it was his turn on night watch, when Smith mistook him for a German and stabbed him with his bayonet, sir." I responded to which Nixon muttered Jesus.

"Thank you, anything else to report?" Winters asked i thought it best not to bring up Blithe; instead I would keep a closer eye on him.

"No sir, I'll keep you informed if anything else occurs." I replied bidding I'm and the others farewell as I travelled back along the line, stopping at everyone's foxholes asking them how they were until I eventually made it back to Gene. I managed to get some sleep before all hell seemed to let loose, mortar fire mixed with gunfire rained down on us, Gene pulled me further down into the foxhole as dirt kicked up all around us. We'd stay put until the call for a medic rang around; I prayed everyone would make it through this. The call finally came it was Smokey; he'd been hit in the leg and had a small graze just below his hairline.

"Holy shit." He mumbled as I finished bandaging him up, he'd been watching the line as Gene and I brought him back off it slightly. I followed his gaze and saw two soldiers; I couldn't quite make out who they were as dirt kept kicking up in front of us. They were both right out in the open with a Panzer tank rolling directly towards them, they fumbled with the first round of explosives, but then the next was a straight shot destroying the tank.

"Thank God." I muttered releasing a breath I didn't think I was holding in, and then from the other side of the field Shermans broke through to force the German line into retreat. It was such a relief to see them break through and essentially save us from ending up with more wounded. As the firefight ended I made rounds again, stopping when I found Blithe who seemed a little bit more like his old self. "Doing alright Blithe?"

"Yes thank you Annie, I think I am." He replied he didn't have that haunted look like he had done right after Carentan; something must have happened that's when I noticed the Lieutenant from Dog Company.

"Everything alright Lieutenant?" I asked him as he sauntered down from the embankment he'd been shooting on. He certainly gave off an intimidating aura around him, but rumours could just be rumours.

"Yes ma'am." He responded as he put his gun over his shoulder and took out his packet of cigarettes taking one out before offering me one, I politely accepted as he lit both of them before remembering what all the rumours that we're flying round about him…but I doubt he'd shoot a medic.

"Thank you sir." I said as he then went on his way back to Dog Company leaving both me and Blithe stood there. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I was afraid before, but then Lieutenant Speirs gave me some advice and I realised I had to face my fears." He responded looking off into the distance at the retreating German line that was being followed by Easy soldiers. "I think I'm going to be just fine Annie."

As Easy advanced I found myself linking up with Val as Gene and Ralph were further up the line and Marie and Matron were taking back the wounded to the field hospital in Carentan.

"Doing alright?" she asked as we continued further up the pathway, there were countless German bodies littering the road.

"Yeah, are you?" I replied as we passed by a German medic who still had some supplies on him, which we soon relieved him of. Easy secured the position easily after that and a small squadron predominantly made up of first platoon followed the trail of the last remaining German soldiers to a barn, what should have been relatively easy for the company to deal with ended with yet another wounded soldier. Gene and Welsh came barrelling down the hill to where the rest of the company where with Blithe on a stretcher. "What happened?"

"He was shot in the throat by a goddamn sniper." Gene replied as Val and I ran beside them, Blithe was still conscious and the blood wasn't spurting out rapidly meaning it hadn't cut through an artery. We managed to get him back to the field hospital in time so that they could look over him properly.

"What was on his lapel?" Val asked as we sat outside the hospital having managed to get all wounded back for the rest of the medical teams to take over treatment. I remembered seeing that small white flower on the lapels of some of the German soldiers, and in my mother's garden.

"Edelweiss." I replied not sure entirely why any of the soldiers were wearing it. Shortly after we'd gotten back to Carentan the news broke the regiment was being taken off the line and we'd shortly be returning to England, making me feel as though the assault that caused Blithe's wounds wasn't as necessary as it had first seemed.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. I'm trying to update a chapter a day at least if I have a chapter further along the line done, so when this chapter goes up I should have at least up to chapter eighteen written. Thank you to all those who have been adding to favourites, following and reviewing this story it means a lot to me. In the next chapter we will be back in Aldbourne for the final bit of leave before Easy heads to Holland.


	13. A Smile Falters

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 13: A Smile Falters

Aldbourne, England, July 1944

It felt like a coming home party when we arrived back in Aldbourne; Alf and Babs had welcomed Val and I back as if we were their own daughters. They'd hugged us tightly before preparing a great meal for us which was a welcome change from the rations we had been eating for the past few weeks. However the feel of an actual comfy bed was the best thing the first night we had gotten back, I didn't think I'd fall asleep so quickly after everything that had happened but I was just too exhausted. Everything just felt worlds away from the horrors we had faced in France.

"Annie can I ask you something?" Marie asked somewhat timidly, the pair of us were currently waiting for Val to show up as we sat watching the world go by in one of the fields close by.

"Sure."

"Had you ever held someone as they died? I mean before the war." She questioned and now I realised why she had been timid at the start.

"I had three patients die when we were trying to save them, that was when I did a few years in the ER." I replied the first patient had been a young man maybe in his early thirties who'd been in a severe car accident; he'd died shortly after he'd gotten onto the operating table. The second was an elderly man who had suffered a heart attack, he died shortly after surgery he'd at least gone peacefully in his sleep. The third patient was a young woman who was expecting her first child, she'd ended up in a car accident when the taxi she was in was hit, we were able to save her child but she unfortunately died just as her child was born.

"Does it get any easier?" She asked I wanted to tell her it did, that after you saw one death you'd pretty much seen it all. But no matter what it never got easier, every patient that passed away when there was potentially something you could have done hurt the same as any other death.

"No I don't think it does." I replied, "I'm guessing it was your first time dealing with death?"

"Yeah, I mean you do get stillborn babies when you work in midwifery, but I've been lucky in my life never to have delivered such a situation." She explained of course she hadn't been accustomed to a lot of death; she'd pretty much worked in the line of life giving for most of her time as a nurse. "And when I switched over, none of my patients had died."

"All you can do is your best, some people you just can't save." I offered her some advice that the Matron in my first job had offered me on the first day, which I had taken with me ever since. Shortly Val arrived carrying a basket full of goodies that Babs had given her, hopefully she'd be able to cheer up Marie.

"Gals, I've hit the jackpot." She exclaimed as she sat down next to us and opened the basket. Inside were variant cakes that looked delicious, the taste however was somewhat of a disappointment. "Babs apologises if they don't taste as sweet as they should, there's a shortage of sugar."

"Still it's the thought that counts." We sat there for a little while longer talking about anything that would take our minds off the war.

"Found any Cary Grant's?" Val asked wiggling her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

"No and when exactly would I have found time to find Cary Grant?"

"You know what they say; when you're not looking love will find you." She answered I shook my head as Marie giggled beside her.

"You know what they also say; if you don't pay attention you get shot." I grumbled as we made our way back into town she was about to retort when someone started yelling Cohen. "Anna R." It was a mail call for me, he handed me several letters all from my family.

"Somebody's popular." Val joked as looked over them all deciding to open the one which was from my parents first:

 _Dearest Annie,_

 _I hope this letter finds you safe and well, we are constantly updated with how well the war effort is going it's all the newspapers are writing about. However there is also an update on the wounded and killed list which your mother is obsessed with reading every morning. I'm not sure if you have been told already and this is old news to you, but your brother George…he didn't make it. They told us his plane was shot down somewhere over France, your mother is adamant that he could still be alive._

 _Promise me one thing come back to us._

 _All our love,_

 _Dad and Mum_

I couldn't believe what I was reading, George couldn't be dead he just couldn't be dead. We were both meant to make it back home, and he'd promised the first round of drinks too.

"Annie what's wrong?" Marie asked noticing I had stopped in my tracks. "What's the letter say?"

"It can't be true." I muttered and then Val had taken the letter out of my hands and read it quickly, handing it to Marie and then pulling me into a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry Annie." She whispered as I let the tears fall and sobbed into her shoulder, he couldn't be dead he just couldn't be dead. Marie then hugged me as well rubbing a hand up and down my bag as I uncontrollably sobbed. "It's going to be alright."

It was later that night after I couldn't sleep that I wrote back to my parents, I didn't want them to worry about me after the news about George and not hearing from me for a while they were probably sick with worry. I felt numb; I still couldn't quite believe that I'd never seen George again, it felt like David had died all over again but this time I was older and realised just how awful it was. The next day I must have looked awful, Babs and Alf gave their condolences and Marie and Val kept checking up on me but I felt the need to be alone. I made my way out to a field just outside the town and sat against the trunk of an oak tree, the breeze was nice even if it was a little chilly.

"Need some company?" I nearly jumped out of my skin when Joe appeared out of nowhere and sat down next to me.

"Christ, you made me jump." I mumbled I had yet to tell anyone else about George's death, but I didn't know whether Marie and Val had told anyone else.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked I definitely must have looked awful; my eyes were probably as red and puffy as they currently felt. I unrumpled the letter that I'd stuffed into my trouser pocket and handed it him. "What's this?"

"Read it." I replied as he sat down next to me and began to read it.

"Oh God, Annie I'm so sorry." He said before he pulled me into a tight hug one hand moving up and down my back reassuringly.

"I don't…he's gone and I…I won't be able to see him…" I cried as more tears fell down my cheeks.

"Shh, shh." He mumbled into my hair as he pulled my impossibly closer to him. "It's going to be alright."

"How?"

"Remember when David died? You got through that, and you'll get through this." He explained and while that was true we were kids when he died and it probably didn't hit me as hard as it was now. "You're the toughest woman, hell maybe the toughest person I know."

"Joe…"

"And I'll be with you to help you through it." He continued, "And I am going to make sure you get back home."

"What about yourself?" I asked as I finally stopped myself crying and looked up at him, he used one hand to wipe away some of the tears from my cheeks.

"Isn't it your job to worry about me?" he joked a small smile on his lips and that seemed to make me feel better about things even managed to make me smile a little. "There's the Anna I know."

"Thanks." I mumbled as he unwrapped his arms from me and helped me up.

"You'd do the same if it were me." He responded and then we were on our way back to town. "Anyone else know?"

"Just you, Marie and Val and then Babs and Alf who me and Val are staying with." I replied as we reached the gate to Babs and Alf's property, I needed to wash my face after crying again.

"If you need anything, anything at all, you know where I am." He said before hugging me once more and then he was on his way back to his accommodation. I let myself into the house and went upstairs to throw some water on my face and try and make myself a little bit more presentable. It must have been a few hours later when Val arrived back.

"Annie you here?" she asked before she came into our shared room, "There you are, right I know you probably don't feel like it now but I swear it will make you feel so much better."

"What scheme of yours is this?"

"We are going the pub tonight, and then I've managed to get passes for the whole weekend for the three of us; you, me and Marie to go to London." She responded and I couldn't quite form a reply, I certainly didn't feel like going anywhere this evening.

"Val, I don't…." but she cut me off and grabbed her bag full of make-up.

"No, no I promise this will take your mind off things." She stated and before I could argue I was in no state to be seen by others she cut me off once more. "Don't worry; I'll make you up so no one can take their eyes off of you." And true to her word she began attacking me with the whole arsenal she had in her bag and by the time she was done you couldn't tell I had been crying at all. "See I can work miracles."

"Thanks Val." I said as I looked over her handy work before I set about getting out of my ODs and into actual dress uniform. "You better get ready too."

"Already ahead of you." She responded and she was already putting her face on as I ran round the room trying to find the pair of kitten heels that went with the uniform, it felt odd being able to dress up after spending a good month being covered in dirt and blood. Once Val was ready we headed on down to where Marie was living with Matron and the four of us made our way to the pub. Which as usual was full to the brim with men from the Airborne, Matron and I were left on a table we found round the side of the bar, while Val and Marie got the round in.

"Anna, I know I should have commended you at the time, but the way you took charge of treating Floyd Talbert really showed your leadership." Matron began and I couldn't quite believe she was actually commending me on that it was simply what I had to do.

"It was just what needed to be done."

"That may be, but I've seen the three of you out there and by far you are the most confident in taking control." Matron replied I didn't really know what to think; surely Val had much more confidence out in the field. "The others just can't seem to order men around like you can."

"I think I'll take that as a compliment, thank you." I said and for once in a while she smiled widely.

"Anna, it's a skill that is needed more especially in our line of work." She suggested and I couldn't quite work out what she was getting at. "Lord knows a Doctor thinks he's right and that's the be all and end all of the situation, but most of the time he's bloody wrong and he just can't admit it."

"Margaery language!" Val chimed in as she and Marie arrived back with our drinks, everyone including Matron laughed at that. The night continued on in good hearted fashion, we'd each get a round in until we didn't need any more alcohol in our systems, when it got a bit later Matron bid us farewell wishing us a good weekend in London. At one point Val had gotten up at the request of a rather persistent replacement paratrooper leaving just me and Marie again, like it had been at Fort Benning.

"Feeling better?" Marie asked after a bit of a lull in the conversation.

"Yeah, I suppose I am feeling a bit better." I replied as I lit up the final cigarette in my packet, at least I had one more back in my pack at Babs and Alf's place. I'd just have to get more in before we left for London tomorrow. "How did you manage to snag three passes?"

"Ah we can all have our secrets." She said smiling before catching the eye of Luz who once again was rather tipsy and looking for someone to dance. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to dance for said secret."

"Does Johnny know?" I joked earning a smack to the arm…my still recovering arm. "Ow!"

"You deserved that." She shouted back before her and Luz disappeared onto the dance floor, I felt somewhat awkward just sat there by myself but as I got up to leave, Joe made an appearance having gotten a bit tipsy himself.

"Annie, come on let's dance." He said slurring one or two words as he dragged me up to the dance floor; I had just enough time to stub out my cigarette. He twirled me around the dance floor not bothered in the slightest if we bumped into any other pair up there, which drew some rather disgruntled looks from some of the British Red Cross nurses who were keeping some of the soldiers company.

"Jesus Joe." I laughed as he pretty much picked me up and twirled me round once more. "I know you like to show off and all, but I don't think the others are quite appreciating it."

"Annie, I don't give a fuck about the others." He said laughing but he at least toned down the twirling and instead we were now steadily swaying. "It's you I give a fuck about."

"I think that sounded better in your head." I laughed but all the same I don't think it would have sounded right any other way out of Joe's mouth. He laughed along with me as we continued to dance at some point Luz and Marie came up to us and I swear I heard something along the lines of 'way to go Lieb.' It felt like an eternity as we danced and laughed, it felt as though we were just all back home and there was no war on, there was nothing but the fun and happiness of the moment.

"Closing time, Ladies and Gents." Was called by the barman as the music stopped and everyone in the bar groaned and aired their grievances.

"I'll walk you back." Joe offered as I took his arm as he led me out of the bar. "I'm glad your smile is back."

"Well I don't know anyone that wouldn't at least smile at a tipsy, dancing Joseph Liebgott." I laughed nearly tripping over the cobblestone road which made me laugh even more.

"Hey I'm a good dancer." He retorted as he stopped me from tripping over, but he was laughing along with me.

"So you say." I said giggling as he pouted slightly which just made me laugh even more. "Well this is me, thank you Joe, for a great night."

"I'm glad you had a good night." He said I let go of his arm and turned to open the gate when his hand reached out and caught my arm. I turned back around and met his gaze, not entirely sure why he was stopping me from going back inside, his gaze then slowly drifted down before flickering back up. I was about to ask him what he wanted but before I could he closed the distance between us, dropping his hand down from my arm to my hand and interlinking our fingers. His other hand tilted my head as he closed the distance between us and then his soft lips touched mine, taking my breath away.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. Thank you to all those who have been adding to favourites, following and reviewing this story it means a lot to me. Hope you enjoyed the little bit at the end; the next chapter takes us to London before Easy is finally sent to Holland.


	14. London Calls

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 14: London Calls

London, England, August 1944

"You kissed Joe?!" Val exclaimed loudly so much so people sat around us in the quaint restaurant we were currently sat in glared at her. The train ride from Swindon, the nearest train station to Aldbourne, to London had been filled with Val's tales from the night before. The replacement, I'm not sure whether she even remembered his name, had danced with her for most the evening and they had both left the pub and were on their way back to where he was staying. Val had kindly informed us she would have had sex with him, however at some point between leaving the pub and getting to his accommodation he'd put his foot in it. He'd kindly informed Val that women shouldn't be in the army, that men were sorting this out and it was too dangerous, to which Val slapped him and went on her way back to Alf and Bab's house. I'd only just got the chance to explain what had happened last night.

"Quiet down will you, people are staring." I shushed trying to look as apologetic as possible to the people close to us. Maybe the proper setting of telling them this would have been the hotel, where Val could yell and be as loud as she wanted without people out right glaring at her. "It was just a kiss, we were both kinda tipsy."

"Still Annie it's a kiss." Marie said, "We told you he was your Jewish Cary Grant."

"I knew I should have just kept it to myself." I mumbled as the waitress brought over some fruit cake, with the rationing and such she'd explained that no eggs were used in the recipe and a lot of their usual desserts had to be taken off the menu because of the shortage of sugar.

"Sharing is caring." Val joked as she tucked into her cake, sure to some extent that was true but when she went into detail of her night with Tab…there was some information she could have not shared.

"You do realise we could get kicked out the army for this right?" I asked if any of us ended up pregnant or married we'd be immediately discharged and our reputation would be in ruins. I wasn't exactly sure what would happen to the men, but more than likely it wouldn't be as hard a punishment as what they'd give us.

"Annie, you worry too much." Val sighed if there weren't so many rules and regulations I don't think I would worry too much. "You are not going to get discharged because of one kiss."

"She's right, just enjoy the moment." Marie added with a smile, "So how was the kiss?"

"I'm not going to get away without telling you am I?" I asked and the pair of them shook their heads and so I was left with no choice but to tell them how he'd walked me back to the house, we'd said goodbye and just as I was about to go through the gate he'd stopped me and kissed me.

"That's adorable."

"Shut it." I hit Marie lightly on the arm they both knew I hadn't actually been with anyone; sure I'd been kissed before by one or two of the boys that used to live near us, but I'd never had a proper relationship before.

"And before you know it, our Annie will be makin' Whoopi." Val laughed drawing some more attention from the other diners. The rest of the weekend seemed to fly by as we had an incredible time, London even after being hit constantly by German air raids was still absolutely marvellous, like nothing I had ever seen. I was happy I had agreed to join them it had really brightened my week after the bad news.

"Thank you." I said as we departed the train at Swindon, the pair of them smiled as they both hugged me.

"We're glad you enjoyed it." Marie replied it was around ten o'clock in the evening when we finally arrived back in Aldbourne, Val was insisting that we go down to the pub for last call but both Marie and I were too tired and all we wanted was a good night's sleep. The next day we were all surprised by the arrival of Colonel Flikke, the head of the US Army Nurse Corps. Matron had gathered us in the town hall, she didn't know why the Colonel had decided to come and visit us.

"Everyone is presentable." Matron muttered as she inspected the three of us in our dress uniforms, she seemed rather nervous for this little impromptu visit. "Remember, best behaviour and Valerie no bad language."

"Yes Ma'am." We all replied and shortly after Matron was done fussing around in came the woman of the hour; Colonel Flikke accompanied by Colonel Sink and Major Strayer. We all saluted them as they entered the room.

"At ease ladies." Flikke ordered a large smile on her face; I'd only ever seen her in photos and the occasional recruitment film that played before the feature film at the cinema. "As you probably know, as of February this year Congress saw it fit to approve military rank to all nurses serving in the Corps." She began I felt a surge of pride we were actually going to be given military ranks, no longer would we just be nurses we'd be on the same level as the men. "And while you may have moved on to more, impressive, roles we have not overlooked you and today you will officially be given your ranks."

"Doesn't it feel great?" Val exclaimed once each of us had been given a rank, I was given that of Corporal while Marie and Val were now given the rank of Private First Class. Matron had been given the rank of Sergeant which seemed fitting since she was the one who got us through all our training and had more experience than any of us. Now adorning my uniform were the two golden chevrons. "I mean you must feel pretty good being a higher rank than me and Marie."

"It does feel good, but it ain't gonna change the way we are." I replied as I admired the chevrons in the mirror, we were about to go out to have dinner with the rest of the company in an old barn like building that was now serving as the mess hall. "What do you think the guys will make of it?"

"If they even realise we've actually got ranks." She started as she lightly pushed me out of the way of the mirror admiring her own chevron. "But you know men; they don't really recognize a change."

"True."

"How are you doing? With everything arm included." Val asked somewhat out of the blue; the arm was pretty much healed up, no pain just a scar tissue. While the loss of George would take some more time to heal, the times spent with friends took my mind off of the pain.

"I'm doing alright." I replied she patted me on the shoulder before we headed out to grab Marie and then to grab food. Marie was sat on the garden fence to where she was currently staying, reading a letter. "Any good news from home?"

"Ah…erm no you know just mum being a worry of sorts." She replied seeming somewhat flustered, I don't think I'd ever seen her like that before.

"Are you alright?" Val asked she was as suspicious as I was over her actions, but if she didn't want to tell us right now she didn't have to.

"Yeah, I'm totally fine." She replied giving us a bright smile but it seemed somewhat forced. "If we wait any longer we won't get any food." And with that she led us down to the building where most of Easy were already gathered. It was good to see everyone who'd come back from the hospital, Blithe and Tipper wouldn't be joining us, their wounds were far too severe.

"How are you holding up Tab?" I asked as the three of us sat down opposite him, Chuck and Joe. He looked rather healthy for someone that had been stabbed multiple times in the torso.

"I'm all better Annie."

"Or you should be saying Corporal Cohen, when did you ladies get ranks?" Chuck asked noticing the newest addition to our uniforms. He clearly was a very observant man.

"Congress thought it was a nice gesture back in February, we're just getting them now since you know we're not technically in the Corps anymore." Val explained, "Granted Cohen seems to be on the path for higher things."

"Well congratulations."

"Well done, 'bout time you were recognised for the work you've done." Joe added it was nice that the guys were supportive, when back at the start all of them had been sceptical if not downright against the idea of us being part of the Airborne. At that point Smokey called for quiet and began to recite the poem he entitled 'Night of the Bayonet':

"The night was filled with dark and cold,

When Sergeant Talbert the story's told,

Pulled out his poncho and headed out,

To check the lines dressed like a Kraut."

The hall began to murmur and Chuck clapped a hand on Tab's shoulder as both he and Smith who was sat on the bench behind seemed to be mortified at the events unfolding. But Smokey continued on with his poem:

"Upon a trooper our hero came,

Fast asleep; he called his name.

"Smith, oh Smith, get up, it's time

To take your turn out on the line."

Private Smith, so very weary,

Cracked an eye, all red and bleary,

Grabbed his rifle and did not tarry,

Hearing Floyd, but seeing Gerry."

Smith seemed totally mortified and kept telling everyone he really didn't know it was Tab at all, and that if they were in his position they would have done the same.

"It's me!" cried Tab. "Don't do it!" and yet,

Smith charged toute de suite with bayonet.

He lunged, he thrust, both high and low,

And skeweth the boy from Kokomo.

And as they carried him away,

Our punctured hero was heard to say,

"When in this war you venture out,

best never do it dressed as a Kraut!"

The poem ended to rapturous applause from the room, before Smokey unclipped one Purple Heart and held it up.

"As you weren't eligible for a Purple Heart since you weren't wounded by the enemy, we took it upon ourselves to get you one." Smokey announced before walking over and presenting the medal to Tab.

"I would have shot him; I just didn't think we could spare a man." Tab hollered earning laughs from everywhere.

"Sure you would've." Even the likes of Winters and Nixon enjoyed the antics of Smokey, something Sobel would have been dead set against…although if Sobel was still in charge I don't think any of us would have made it back to England. The festivities at dinner continued on into the night, where we all gathering in the same local pub we always did to celebrate the return of those who'd re-joined us.

"Here they are the best damn dames in the Airborne." Guarnere exclaimed chuckling away, he was sat at a table with some new recruits probably telling them what's what.

"Ever the flatterer Bill." I said as I passed by him giving him a quick kiss on the cheek to which his grin got wider.

"It's the goddamn truth, and these rookies need to know it." He replied motioning towards the three men in front of him, they all reminded me of Ron who if all went to plan would be training to get here and be in their shoes. "Hold up, someone's had a promotion you're a Corporal now?"

"Damn straight, means she can boss round more people, not just me and Marie." Val joked making Bill laugh and even the new recruits seemed to chuckle slightly.

"Hey, I am not bossy!"

"Ha-ha here drinks on me tonight gals." Bill laughed before handing over money to me, but I shook my head.

"Bill…"

"No you gals deserve it." He stated I was about to hand the money back to him when Val took it and went to the bar.

"Thanks." His grin grew wider as he winked at me before he turned back to messing with the newbies.

"Congratulations." It was Webster who was sat at the bar by himself, compared to everyone else who were gathered in groups and being rowdy he stuck out like a sore thumb. He was different from a lot of the enlisted men, having gone to Harvard of all places beforehand and maybe he just didn't fit in that well with a lot of the men, or maybe tonight he just felt like drinking alone.

"Thanks Web." I smiled brightly at him which he returned. "How are you holding up? I mean after everything in Normandy and all."

"I'm good thanks, just glad to be here in one piece." He replied and I think that notion was shared with the whole company, everyone wanted to go back home in one piece. He was about to say something more when Cobb took everyone in the immediate vicinity's attention. He was giving the new recruits a hard time about wearing the D Day unit citation as they hadn't fought then, granted he was overlooking the fact that he hadn't actually fought in the D-Day landings either. One of the replacements even took off the citation before he left the pub.

"Jesus Cobb, you didn't fight in Normandy either." Bull had come over from observing a darts match between Toye, Buck, Luz and one of the replacements called Heffron. He picked up the citation off of the table and turned to go after the replacement who had just left.

"I was hit in the plane, I couldn't jump." He hissed at the other replacements before leaving them alone.

"Miss something?" Joe had just arrived after only just catching the last of the scene with Cobb.

"Yeah Cobb was being an asshole, like usual." I replied as Val handed me my beer getting a sly wink in, in the process.

"So nothing new then." He joked as he ordered his own beer patting Web on the back as he leaned on the bar. "Someone's been promoted, so do I have to call you Corporal Cohen now?"

"Watch it Joe, it'll go to her head and before you know it she'll be bossing you around." Val joked making everyone laugh.

"Hey!" Once again Joe bought in the drinks even after I told him he didn't have to, and Val insisted the man could do what he wanted. Just as things were getting a bit more rowdy as more of the company arrived, Smokey drew everyone's attention.

"Hey, ya all! Listen up, this here is Carwood Lipton." He began dragging Lipton away from the door.

"He's already married, Smokey." Malarkey shouted and the room erupted into laughter before Smokey began talking again.

"This here is Carwood Lipton, the new Easy Company first sergeant!" he announced which got rapturous applause; out of everyone here Carwood definitely deserved this promotion. "As befitting his position, he says he has to make an announcement."

"Well, I hate to break the mood here, boys, but we're moving out again." Lip announced and immediately the cheer that had been in the room immediately vanished. I looked around the room and saw everyone's face fall…we thought at least we'd have a couple more weeks before we'd jump again.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. Thank you to all those who have been adding to favourites, following and reviewing this story it means a lot to me. The next chapter takes us to Holland and the start of Operation Market Garden.


	15. A Celebration in Orange

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 15: A Celebration in Orange

Upottery, England, September 1944

Once again we were drilled with the operation; Operation Market Garden was going to be the largest operation of the war so far. Our objective was to liberate Eindhoven to allow the British tank regiment to move freely between Eindhoven and Arnhem and then over the Rhine and into Germany. If this worked it could potentially end the war before Christmas, whether that would be the case or not we wouldn't be seeing England for a while.

"This time I am not leaving the good stuff in the leg bag." Val laughed as we got ready once more to jump, we were more prepared than last time knowing exactly what sort of thing to expect unlike when we had dropped into Normandy and lost a good third of the supplies we had on us.

"Yeah, don't want to lose the essentials, right Marie?" I added turning towards Marie who still looked out of it since she received that letter, but she still hadn't informed of us of what was bugging her…not that she had to but it would probably be better for her to open up to someone about it. I looked back at Val who looked as concerned as I felt about Marie. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She replied however neither Val nor I were convinced. "Guys, I'm totally fine honest…well you know except that my monthlies started, but other than that I'm fine."

"Honest? You know you can tell us if something is wrong." I responded she'd never acted this way before when she was on her period, so my gut feeling said something else was the matter but she wasn't about to open up about it, whatever it is.

"Honestly I'm fine."

"Well since you're on, you can carry the extra sanitary provisions." Val said handing her over the extra sanitary supplies with a wry smile as she took some of Marie's extra supplies in a sort of trade. "I would give you some chocolate, but I don't even have any."

"Thanks…I'm sure the guys will be happy that I have extra supplies they aren't exactly going to need." She joked making us laugh she however didn't really laugh much as if she was holding something back, I would have questioned it further but then our attention was dragged to the jeep that had just arrived in.

"Holy mother…."

"Language Kent." Matron had just joined us and even her attention was drawn to the arrival of Sobel, I think the whole of Easy Company watched as the man exited his jeep and went to the supply truck that was driven in shortly behind his jeep. Accompanying Sobel was Popeye, who everyone was much more appreciative of his arrival. "Private Wynn, should you really be out of the hospital?"

"Ma'am…sorry I mean Sergeant, I couldn't leave the company to jump again." He explained I forgot he'd missed out on all our promotions although Ma'am was a perfectly acceptable address for Matron, since it was analogous to sir when addressing the likes of any of the other higher-ups. "And I swear I am fine for the jump."

"Hmm…I guess we can always keep a closer eye on you, but promise us one thing." Matron responded at least she wasn't about to send him all the way back to the hospital, especially since his presence had given the men a morale boost.

"Anything."

"Don't get shot in your behind again." She replied with a large smile on his face, Popeye laughed at that before promising us we wouldn't have to treat his wounded ass again, before he left to go get ready.

"Ladies, here are some more medical supplies." It was one of the supply officers who had brought over the crates that had been in the truck. At least it didn't look like we were going to run out of anything anytime soon.

"Thank you."

"Look lively, Sobel is on the prowl." Val hissed as she nodded over towards the man who seemed to making a beeline for us after spending some time talking at Malarkey. That was easier said than done when you had already got a hefty amount of weight strapped to you, I nearly tripped trying to move back and out of his eyesight but I didn't manage to get very far before I had to turn and salute the bastard.

"Still playing soldiers?" he snarked clearly seeing the company he used to command had turned his mood sour. How could he even say that? We'd completed a jump into the thick of war and come out with only the slightest of cuts and abrasions, he'd not even jumped into battle he'd been training non-combatants away from the front.

"Captain Sobel, I'd like to thank you on behalf of all my team. Your training prepared us for the worst, and we were able to overcome things people wouldn't have imagined we'd be capable of." Matron countered she was right without his continuous drills and marching, his strict demeanour I don't think any of us would be up to the standard of taking on this task. Also it so happened that stroking this man's ego meant you could escape nasty run-ins and consequences. "Without you this little experiment would never have succeeded as it has done."

"Well…" he began clearly not fully expecting that sort of reply, maybe he was expecting some bit back half remark he could hold against her or even court martial her later on. "Keep up the good work." And then he moved on down the line, I wondered what would have happened in France had he been at the helm and not Winters…would everyone who was standing on the airstrip still be here? Would we have taken even more casualties and even more deaths? Or would the same fate that had befallen Meehan have befallen him, we would never know.

"Did he honestly just tell us we were doing good work?" Val asked everyone was shocked he had told us to carry on with our work, especially after he had introduced with such a negative statement.

"Never underestimate the power of a man's ego." Matron laughed and before we knew it we were packed into a plane once more, again I found myself wedged between Joe and Gene with Val opposite me next to Chuck. Maybe it was superstition that everyone had sat in the same places, give or take where someone was missing like Tipper who was replaced by our new replacements.

Eindhoven, Holland, September 1944

It was a much better jump the second time round, no gun fire or fiery shells of planes falling around us. No off course jumps either, everyone landed exactly where they were meant to be. It felt rather odd to land without a single bullet whizzing past, it didn't feel like we were even landing in a warzone. It honestly felt like a training exercise back home, but with the added dread of something happening when we thought it was all clear. It was much easier to get my chute back compared to Normandy and I hadn't lost any of the supplies that had been tied to me.

"Does this feel odd to you?" I asked Val as I helped her up after she dragged her chute back towards her.

"Yeah, it doesn't feel right." She agreed as we followed the platoon through the field to just outside of a town a short journey away from our current objective. Bull's squad which was made up of the new replacements; Lester Hashey, James Miller and Antonio Garcia, were up front scouting ahead. Apparently it was all clear, I looked over at Val who the news also didn't sit well with, and surely this was a clever trap by the Germans to lull us into a false sense of security before they struck. But it wasn't, liberation had come to Holland and the Dutch couldn't be more pleased to see us all.

"Keep moving." Was the order from Lip however that was easier said than done, everyone in the town had poured out into the streets to greet us all. Orange banners, flags and bunting hung all around the place as kids and adults alike celebrated their freedom from the Nazis. People handed us food and drink, I think I'd been handed about six jars of variant fruits in juices even before I'd gotten into the centre of the town.

"Am I dreaming or is this the best day ever?" Val was laughing as she was pulled by a Dutch man who then kissed her before turning towards me to kiss me also, I dodged him and he simply laughed moving on down the street.

"I mean its miles different from the landing in France." We continued to move through the throngs of people, till we eventually caught up with Joe and Chuck who were currently signing autographs for some children, while some of the women kissed them on the cheek.

"Keep moving!" This time it was Nixon who was ordering the Company to move through the town as quickly as possible, Chuck and Joe finished giving out autographs and began to walk on through the town.

"Who'd you sign as?" Joe asked Chuck as he pulled me and Val in front of him and behind Chuck.

"Eisenhower, you?"

"Roosevelt." We all laughed even if the kids hadn't actually met the President of the United States or the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, they'd still have a great story to tell later in their lives, and maybe they'd make people believe they had actually met the men. A man suddenly pulled me away from our group after he realised I wasn't a man and began to dance with me, my helmet fell off of my head which I tried to then pick up but I was twirled around further into the crowd.

"Mind if I cut in?" I was relieved to see the face of Doc Green as the Dutch man agreed to let him cut in, however not before he kissed me on the cheek and then began dancing with one of the women in the crowd. "Lost this by any chance?"

"You are a life saver." I hugged him as he handed me back my helmet, if I hadn't been able to retrieve this back I'd have been in so much trouble for it. He guided me back towards where most of Easy were trying to make their way through, on our way we bumped into Lip who pulled Perconte from the amble bosom of one of the locals. "Looking a bit dazed there Frank, are you doing alright?"

"More than alright Annie." He replied smiling as he stumbled on ahead of us, Doc Green laughed along with Lipton women kept kissing them on the cheeks. At some point we managed to meet up with Chuck, Joe and Val as well as Matron and Marie. They'd all been stopped by a group of people and a photographer who was currently taking a group photo of the soldiers, a small group of children and their parents. Perconte immediately got in on this opportunity and wedged himself between Guarnere and Martins.

"Come on get in here." Doc Green, Lip and I were all ushered into the photograph, it was a surreal moment it didn't feel like we were fighting a war, I'm not entirely sure what it felt like…maybe like a large group of friends away with each other in a distant country where everyone was happy to see us. I hadn't seen Matron smile as much as she was, after the photo had been taken she was giving out bits of chocolate she had on her.

"Do you know what? I might just stay here. Think you'll miss me if I just stay here instead of carrying on to whatever war zone we end up in?" Val joked as she was hugged and kissed on the cheek by one of the women who had been stood next to her.

"I need my best nurses with me, so no staying behind." Matron hollered but with a large grin on her face, making us all smile and laugh once more. Lip and Nixon were still trying to corral the company through the town but again that was a lot easier said than done. I turned to usher the guys further on but just as I did so the words got stuck in my throat as I saw Joe surrounded by women with clear visible lipstick all over his face. I turned back around and started to move off, I hadn't felt jealously like this in a long time the last time had been something trivial; a friend at school had gotten a dress I had wanted forever and wasn't allowed to get it because mum said it was too pricey. I was unbelievably jealous when I saw her in it. I didn't get very far away as I moved through the crowd before yet another man was pulling me towards him for a kiss, he only managed a peck on the lips before I was being hauled backwards with a strong arm around my waist. Flashbacks to that day in Toccoa came to mind and I elbowed the person who'd dragged me back.

"Annie it's me." Joe groaned as he retracted his arm from around my waist but kept one hand on my hip. I glared back at him as I continued forward, he followed close behind. "Annie…"

"You've got a bit of lipstick there." I turned round and pointed to pretty much all of his cheek, before whipping back round and walking forward again, but when I heard him chuckle I turned back round and glared at him more. "What?!"

"You're jealous."

"Hardly." I scoffed and turned once more to go on ahead and get out of the crowds, but Joe stopped me by grasping my arm and dragging me slightly further into a crowd and away from most prying eyes of the higher-ups.

"Annie, I didn't want to be kissed by them." He explained as he dragged the back of his hand down his cheeks to get rid of the lipstick. "I'd much rather it was you kissing me."

"Uh-huh."

"Annie, if the whole fucking company and the rest of the damn Airborne weren't here I'd kiss you right here." He whispered he knew like I did fraternization was severely frowned upon, he may not be kicked out of the Airborne but I would be.

"If the whole damn Airborne wasn't here neither would we." I stated to which he just scoffed.

"Annie, the night I kissed you…" He began but I cut him off, I was not in the best of moods at the minute. The tinge of jealousy I felt had sort of taken over the happiness and cheer I had been feeling since we entered into this town.

"We were both drunk." I stated which made him frown and I felt awful about it, sure we both had been drunk but that didn't take anything away in my mind. I was just suddenly in such a bad mood that I would sabotage anything at the moment for myself.

"Annie…" Before either he or I could say anymore there were some utter chilling sobs that seemed to pierce through the noise of the crowds. I immediately went towards the source of the noise with Joe right behind me with Val and Marie also showing up at the same time. The sight that we found was awful, essentially a mob had gathered around a group of women chanting what I would assume would be whore in Dutch. Across their foreheads were drawn swastikas, their heads were being shaved and at such a speed that some of them had been clipped by the clippers the woman and men had been using on them.

"Jesus." None of us could really believe what we were currently seeing, what had these women done for the townspeople to turn on them. "What do we do?"

"I don't know…"

"We should do something." Marie stated but before she could even step forward towards the crowd, a man with an orange armband on his jacket appeared and stepped in front of us all.

"I wouldn't interfere, these women slept with Nazis." He explained as well as giving us all a stern sort of look to make sure we didn't interfere with what the mob were doing. Was that really the reason? These women were being treated like this because they slept with Nazis, was that all? Didn't they think about whether these women were trying to survive and had no other choice but sleep with the men who had occupied their country and probably killed many of their friends and relatives? Or did they just think that these women were whores who would sleep with anyone as long as they were in a position of power?

"Annie, we can't leave them like this, they're cuts could get infected…Lord knows what else could happen to them." Marie stated still wanting to intervene which drew some rather stern glares from the people around the mob who could understand English properly. Before she could act upon the urge to intervene Matron and Doc Green appeared.

"Ladies, we need to move on." Doc ordered as he ushered us away from the scenes and further on up the street where the rest of Easy had managed to gather together and where less people seemed to be, with a lot occupied rounding up traitors. We managed to catch up to where Winters had stopped to talk to some of the Dutch resistance and that was when the English managed to arrive their tanks slowly rolling through the town which separated the crowd. And then we were given the order to set up a field hospital within the town's Doctor's surgery with Joe also being given the order to help us move stuff around.

"We need to talk about this." He murmured once we were in the surgery, where a very helpful Dutch doctor helped us set up which meant there really was no need for him to help us out.

"What have we got to talk about?" I asked as I moved towards the store room to see if there were any extra sterilised strips of bandages with him following behind me, at least there be a bit more privacy in the store room where no one was.

"Annie, that kiss…"

"As I said we were both drunk." I murmured as I went to go back into the main room but was stopped by him, I couldn't really look him in the eyes I knew I'd just envision those women around him again and get even more mad.

"You and I both know there was more to it than that." He whispered as his hand tried to tilt my head so I'd look him in the eye but I simply swiped his hand away and looked off into the corner of the room. "Annie…"

"Ahem, Cohen did you find the supplies?" Matron had interrupted us, which didn't really bode well for me if she'd heard most of our conversation no doubt I'd be punished in some form or another.

"Yes Matron."

"Good. Liebgott I think we've got this handled from here, you can return to your platoon." She ordered before turning on her heel and exiting the door frame, I finally looked up at Joe who sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I think you'd best be going." I muttered I went to hug him but thought better of it, I probably was already in trouble I didn't need any more grief.

"Yeah I better." He sighed and left slamming the surgeries' front door, startling everyone in the other room. I blinked away a few tears away, had I ruined everything with Joe? By being a stupid, self-ruining, jealous bitch; had I just lost a friend or something even more?

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Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. Thank you to all those who have been adding to favourites, following and reviewing this story it means a lot to me. The next chapter there will be even more Holland and the punishment Matron is going to deal out or will she?


	16. Crime and Punishment

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

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Till the End of the Line

Chapter 16: Crime and Punishment

"A word." Were the first words Matron spoke to me after I left the store room once Joe had left slamming the door behind him. She directed me through to what I assume was the Doctor's office before telling me to sit down as she closed the door behind her. "Are you an idiot?"

"Sorry?" I couldn't believe she just asked me if I was an idiot, I immediately felt like I was a small child being reprimanded by a teacher at school.

"Are you an idiot?" she asked again I wasn't entirely sure how I was supposed to answer that question, before I could though she continued. "You could throw away your entire military career over a man! All the good work you've done could amount to nothing."

"Matron…"

"Listen to me; you do not want to throw away your career because of a man. You can do so much more and I don't want to see you discharged because you were stupid enough to blazingly disregard the fraternization policies." She began on a rant and at first being called stupid made me feel incredibly small, but the fact she was so passionate about making sure I was going to see this through to the end made me feel slightly better about the whole situation.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again. It was just one drunken kiss." I began explaining she seemed to calm down at that.

"Make sure it is that boy certainly thinks there's something more there." Matron sighed, "I think what would be best is if you keep the fort here when we move off to take the bridges." I knew she'd find some sort of punishment, while being relegated to the field hospital wasn't the worst thing in the world she and I both knew the place I'd rather be was the frontlines with the men.

"But…"

"No buts, consider this a light punishment." She opened the door pausing as she turned back towards me. "If I hear about anything like this again, I'll have no choice but to report it." And then she left, I sighed and shrunk down in the seat. I at least wasn't going to be sent home but had I totally ruined a great friendship? I couldn't face the rest of the team, let alone the rest of the company at the moment; at least I wasn't being reported for this…at least Joe wouldn't get into trouble all over a kiss. I heard a faint knock before the door was opened and in came Val.

"Hey…we've pretty much got everything set up and the kind Dutch doctor is going to cook for us all." She announced. "Annie..."

"I know what you're going to say, you're going to say don't worry about it." I finished for her getting up out the seat and walking over towards the door. "How can I not worry about it? I could get sent home, discharged if something else happens. And Lord knows if Joe will even speak to me anymore."

"Annie, of course he's going to talk to you." She reassured but how could she know that for sure? "And as for being discharged, Matron is not going to let you go home anytime soon, otherwise she'd just be left with me and you know she'd rather break the rules than be stuck with me."

"I guess you're right." I admitted which made Val laugh.

"Well at least now I can be the hero and save all the guys while your sorry ass sits it out here." She joked which made me feel somewhat better about the situation; I couldn't really track down Joe at this point in time. I may have to wait to tell him what Matron had said, or I could get Val to do it for me in the meantime.

"Val, could you do me a small favour?"

"Sure."

"Could you tell Joe that I'm assigned to the field hospital? You know so he doesn't think I've been sent home because of him." I explained she nodded and hopefully the news I wasn't being sent home would at least make him less of an ass out there. The dinner we had that night was one of the nicer ones I'd had in a while, not that Babs and Alf couldn't serve up a mean Sunday roast, but it was just so good. Easy moved out the following day with the rest of the English tank regiment on the road to Arnhem, Doc and I had been left behind with a medic from Dog Company and the Dutch doctor to oversee things at the hospital. To begin with there wasn't a lot to do, of course there weren't any injured or wounded soldiers to deal with, it must have been at least half way through the day before a steady stream came in.

"Buck, what happened?" I asked as he was carried in and placed front forward on one of the beds.

"Sorry Annie." He mumbled and I immediately knew he'd been shot in the ass just like Popeye.

"You guys really need to stop sticking your goddamn asses out into gunfire." I sighed as I set to work fixing him up, again he mumbled sorry as I peeled off his trousers. "You'll be fine, granted you may not be able to sit for a while."

"I'm really sorry."

"Eh, not like I haven't seen it before. Just please don't get shot in the ass again." I said as I managed to dig out the bullet and stitch him back up. "While we're at it tell the rest of the company to stop getting shot in the ass too."

"Yes ma'am." He said I finished patching him up before moving onto the next soldier and then the next soldier. It seemed like the operation had been a bust as the next day Bull was brought in having taken shrapnel from an exploding tank to his back.

"You're one lucky man Bull." I said once he was fully patched up.

"I don't feel lucky." He mumbled wincing in pain as he tried to lie back on his back.

"In a day or two I think you'll be fine, no trip back to England." And sure enough he returned to Easy the next day…I mean we would have kept him in longer but he managed to slip out when we were too busy looking after some more soldiers. It must have been the next day or the day after that when Joe had come into the surgery; he'd snuck in and grabbed some supplies when I caught him.

"Joseph Liebgott, where the hell do you think you're going?" I yelled s I spotted him trying to leave the surgery we'd occupied as a makeshift field hospital.

"It's just a scratch." He replied as he got out of the door.

"God help me." I sighed and ran after him. "If you didn't realise, I'm the medical professional here and I'll say if it's just a scratch or not, now get your ass back here." He stopped in his tracks and turned back around clearly pissed off.

"Anna it's not a big deal leave it." He stated irritably, but I could see from here that he'd already bled through the bandage that had been put on his wound.

"It'll take two seconds out of your time for me to look it over and then you can be on your merry way. Or you can leave it to get infected and you'll spend much more time in the hospital. Hell you'd probably be sent back to England for it." I replied making him sigh and start walking back over to me, removing his helmet in the process as I ushered him back into the hospital.

"Two seconds." He murmured as he sat down on a free bed while I grabbed a medical supply bag and sat down next to him. I carefully removed the bandage from his neck and cleaned around the open wound drawing a pained hiss from him.

"Well I'd say you need a few stitches, it may even leave quite the scar." I said as I routed through the supply bag to find a needle and thread. He looked rather pissed off, more than just pissed at being grazed by a bullet, maybe it was what I had said the other day…but surely he wouldn't be sat here letting me fix him up if he was so pissed off at me. "What's go you so pissed off?"

"Nothing."

"Joe, I've known you since I was six; I know when you're pissed off. It's not what happened the other day is it?" I asked as I threaded the needle but he shook his head before I tilted it to the side to gain better access to the cut. "Stop squirming or this needle will end up somewhere it shouldn't."

"It fucking hurts."

"And you said it was just a scratch."

"Yeah, yeah. I'd have been fine, you're just wasting supplies." He hissed as I finished the last stitch and set the needle down on the bedside cabinet.

"Wasting supplies? Joe I've got a fully stocked doctor's surgery, I ain't gonna run out of supplies anytime soon." I gestured around the room before pulling some more antiseptic from the supply bag and a clean cloth to clean his neck once more. "Besides if I hadn't fixed you up, you'd have been here a lot longer, and while it's a nice catch up I don't think I could stand your ugly more for weeks on end." I was joking with him trying to get him out of his bad mood, but it didn't work. If he'd been in a better mood he would have said a witty comeback. "Are you going to tell me what's gotten you so pissed off?"

"Anna…"

"You do know we ain't just here to patch you up, if there's something bothering you it's better to talk about it than to bottle it up." I said as I wrapped and secured a fresh clean bandage around his neck.

"Winters." He mumbled this must have been a first, not many of the soldiers had complained about the Captain; sure Guarnere had continuously called him a Quaker until the jump into France. But no one had complained about him like they had Sobel, Winters was a much better leader than he ever would be.

"What about him?"

"Ordering me back here with a bunch of kraut bastards, and leaving me with one single bullet Annie, one single bullet." He explained that was probably why he was in such a rush to leave the aid station. "Those bastards could do anything here; he should have just let me kill them."

"What are you worried they could do? You do know they'll be under twenty four hour guard right?" I asked not entirely sure whether he was more pissed off that he wasn't able to kill them or that he was ordered to bring them back here.

"And what if they escape? They could kill anyone here."

"There are a lot of soldiers stationed here, if one of them or all of them escaped they'd immediately be shot." I explained but he just shook his head.

"You're unarmed. They could do anything to you and you wouldn't be able to defend yourself." And this was the pinpoint of his foul mood, worrying about whether or not I was safe. Now instead of looking pissed of worry had set in his eyes. Sure I'd thought about it before, what would happen to me if I was captured by Germans? Nurses as POWs wasn't completely unheard of, there were one or two reports that had slipped out of the Pacific saying that some nurses had been taken prisoner by the Japanese, so I wouldn't put it past the Germans to do the same. The time however didn't call for what ifs, Joe needed to be calmed down and comforted.

"Aww, Joe you worried about little old me?" I joked trying to lighten the mood however it wasn't what Joe wanted at that moment in time.

"Anna, I'm serious."

"Listen to me." I said in a more serious tone placing a hand on his shoulder. "It won't happen. And if it does, I may not have a gun but I have enough morphine to take down a fully grown elephant. And you know some precision knives."

"Anna…"

"In all seriousness I knew the risks when I joined up and I ain't about to leave. Hell I made it through France with barely a scratch." I said which at least got a tiny smile out of him. "Besides whose gonna bandage you lot up? You know since you guys like putting your asses out into the line of fire…literally." After tending to both Buck and Popeye's ass wounds it seemed Easy were making a tradition out of it all, lord knows who was going to come in next with a gunshot wound to the ass.

"You waiting for me to get shot in the ass so you can take a good look at it?" he joked now this was Joe, I scoffed and shook my head.

"You get shot in the ass, Gene and Spina can look after you." I said as I got up off the bed and began clearing away the used supplies.

"Aww you're not gonna kiss it better for me?" he now had a huge grin on his face; I shook my head and hit on the arm as I then went to throw away the used bandages.

"In your dreams." I replied but that still didn't deter him from his joking.

"They'd be some good dreams."

"Knock it off." I mumbled as I came back over to him to gather the rest of the supplies and put them back into the store for now.

"You started this, thinking…no even hoping you'd get a good look at my ass." He said as he followed me into the room, where only days ago the conversation hadn't been so cheery.

"If I recall it was you who started this, hoping I'd kiss it better for you." I retorted making his grin so much wider.

"You didn't say you wouldn't."

"Goddamn it Joe." I muttered shaking my head in the back of my mind were the words Matron had said that day. If she caught us even if nothing happened I'd still be in the shit.

"You still haven't said it. Admit it you want a look." He said cheekily which I swatted him on the arm for, which only caused him to laugh.

"You must have got hit pretty hard in the head if you think I'm admitting that Joseph Liebgott." I stated which just made him laugh even more; at least he was now in such a better mood than he had been when he came in.

"Still not denying it."

"You're such a pain in the ass, you know that?" I said shaking my head I was still anxious about anyone finding us alone in this room…even if nothing was happening.

"Only for you."

"Joe…"

"So after I left that day how'd it go with Sergeant Carlson?" he asked sensing my anxiousness well at least Val hadn't told him all the details that day.

"Well I got relegated to here rather than being on the front line." I replied knowing full well that Val had already told him that anyway.

"Is that such a bad thing?" he asked while I'd at least be safe from flying debris, bullets and explosions, I wanted to be on the front lines making sure everyone made it back safe, even if it was only safe to the hospital.

"It's at least down from being discharge for dishonourable conduct." I replied and he was shocked at that, maybe he just thought I'd been punished not that I could be facing a discharge.

"Jesus."

"She said it can't happen again, otherwise that's what I'm facing." I explained further and the mood immediately changed, from laughing and joking around seconds ago.

"Annie…"

"Sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, we just can't be caught." He said as he pulled me towards him, I stopped him from keeping me there I didn't want him to get in trouble and I didn't want to leave Easy.

"We can't do anything…not now anyway."

"Does that mean that after this, there'll be something?" he asked hopeful, I mean I wouldn't rule it out just we couldn't do anything right now otherwise we'd be facing heavy punishment.

"We'll see Joe…"

"Anna we need you know!" It was Doc Green who was shouting from the main road, I immediately ran out of the store room to find him transferring somebody to one of the hospital beds. As I got closer I found it was Marie who was on the bed.

"What happened?" I asked as I looked over her, she at least didn't have any head injuries. She'd been hit in the lower leg but that had been patched up, the other wound was in her abdomen.

"She got hit." He explained as he cut away her jacket and shirt revealing the wound, it at least didn't look extremely deep. I checked her jacket, she'd already been given enough morphine and we couldn't give her anymore.

"Christ!"

"She's already lost a lot of blood." I grabbed some plasma from the supplies that had been thrown onto the side table and made sure she was getting some.

"Marie, you're going to be alright ok?" I said reassuringly as I put the needle into her arm and allowed the plasma to flow into her.

"Put pressure here for me." Doc Green ordered pointing towards her wound I did as I was told as he started to inspect the area, he pulled out all the pieces of shrapnel and the bullet itself, before turning and getting the needle and thread.

"You're going to be alright, Doc's got this." I said turning my head up towards Marie, it may have looked bad but Doc was satisfied that it hadn't caused much internal damage.

"Right when I say let go, move your hand off and I'll stitch. The bullet is already out." He ordered as he got back with the stitches.

"Ok."

"Let go." I let go and allowed him to stitch up the wound a lot better without my hands in the way.

"You're alright." I kept on reassuring her as he continued to stitch her up.

"More pressure. Ok I've stitched most of it back up, switch sides. Ok. Let go."

"That's it Marie, all done." I said as Doc finished the stitching I just hoped she would be alright, she'd lost quite a lot of blood and hopefully the plasma would help her out with that.

"I'll get the bandages." Doc said as he grabbed all the dirty used supplies and took them away; before he left he checked her leg for any more damage and was happy with it.

"Right all done, gave us quite the scare." I said sitting down on the edge of the bed and holding her hand, it was unnerving to see her there pale as a sheet of paper and so vulnerable.

"Annie…" she croaked trying to lift herself up but I just shushed her and gently propped her up on the pillows.

"I told you, you'd be fine."

"No." I was confused as to what she was saying no to, she was going to pull through this, and if Tipper could survive his injuries she could survive hers.

"Yes, you're going to be alright we've sorted you alright."

"No, no I'm not going to be alright." She was getting a bit irate with this her hand seemed to go for the plasma tubing as if she was going to remove it, I stopped her and held both her hands in mine.

"Calm down."

"No Annie, you don't understand." She muttered as she tried to break free of my hold, I needed to get Doc back here she was acting so very odd and if she wasn't careful would cause herself more damage.

"Doc! Understand what Marie?" I hollered hoping he'd hear me I looked over my shoulder realising Joe was still in the building, he caught on to the fact I needed Doc and ran off to where he was.

"He's dead." She was now crying hysterically, things had escalated so quickly I wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

"Who's dead Marie?" I asked Doc and Joe arrived back with Doc taking one of her hands out of my grasp to take her pulse, while Joe sat on the side-lines nothing he could really do now.

"Johnny." She sobbed and then all the pieces fell into place, the letter she'd gotten in Aldbourne must have told her he'd gone and that's why she'd been so off since we'd left.

"Her heart rate is decreasing rapidly." Doc said as he let go of her hand and went about trying to fix this situation.

"I'm so sorry honey."

"I'll see him soon though." She murmured her voice was going quieter as if she was drifting off to sleep. She couldn't mean that she was about to die and join him in the afterlife.

"What? Marie you aren't dying." I looked towards Doc for any help, but he was too busy checking the plasma line and checking her over for any other injuries we'd missed that may be causing this. I felt so helpless; I couldn't sit here and watch her die.

"Annie, I'm sorry."

"No, you are not dying." I stated tears were no coming to my eyes, I didn't think about watching any of us dying, I didn't picture myself in this situation holding the hand of my friend as she died.

"I want to be with him."

"No. We've gotta do something. Marie don't you dare die."

"There's nothing we can do. She's already gone." Doc said as he checked her pulse for the final time looking at his watch before writing down the time.

"No, no she was fine. We fixed her wound; she was going to be alright." I said as I let go of her hand and leant over her face to check her breathing, she wasn't breathing at all. I was about to start chest compressions when Doc stopped me.

"We couldn't save her."

"We've saved people with worse injuries than she has." I said trying to get back around to at least attempt to save her but Doc simply stood in my way.

"Cohen, some people don't want to be saved." He stated sadly as he turned around and took the drip out of her arm, and crossed her arms on her chest and closed her eyes. He pulled the bed sheet up to her neck and then he snapped her dog tags off setting them on the side table.

"She can't be dead." Tears were now flowing freely down my face, I couldn't believe Marie had died…this couldn't be happening. We'd saved her and then the next minute she was talking about Johnny being dead and how she was going to see him again and then…and then she was gone. Joe put a reassuring hand on my shoulder as he turned me towards him and wiped away my tears.

"There was nothing we could have done, don't blame yourself." Doc said the sound of the doors of the surgery opening stopped us all in our tracks as Val came rushing in.

"Annie, what's going on?" she asked as she took in the scene I guess I needed to tell her what had happened I turned away from Joe and met Val halfway up in the room at little way away from where Marie now lay.

"Val…"

"Is Marie alright?" she asked as she tried to get around me, Doc had taken the initiative and had Joe and himself block the view of Marie lying in bed.

"Val, it's better if we go outside and talk about this." I replied trying to usher her out of the room, maybe I could tell her in the Doctor's office.

"Just tell me."

"Come on, I'll tell you in there." I said pointing her over towards the Doctor's office but she wasn't having any of it.

"JUST TELL ME!" she yelled trying to push against me to get to Marie.

"Marie…she's dead."

"No, she can't be dead." She muttered as she pushed against me once more, I knew the feeling all bit a few seconds ago I was in the same place as Val, I still couldn't believe she was gone.

"Val…"

"She's not dead Annie; we gotta help her she's injured." She said pushing against me once more tears streaming down her face.

"She's gone Val, there's nothing we can do now."

"No, no there's something we can do."

"Val…"

"NO! She was fine, we'd gotten the bullet out and you and Doc were just meant to make sure she was patched up good." She was now yelling and pushing even harder against me, I had to stand my ground there was nothing she could do to bring Marie back to us. "No major artery was caught; she was going to be fine. I told her she was going to be fine."

"She gave up." I stated which made her push even harder and start hitting me; I grabbed a hold of her arms and tried to wrestle her down to a nearby bed.

"Marie wouldn't give up, she's still gotta be alive."

"Val, she isn't."

"No, she isn't dead, she can't be dead." I'd managed to get her down to the floor but she was still fighting her way to Marie.

"Snap out of this Val. I don't want her to be dead either, but she is and there is nothing we can do about that." I said I didn't like this situation either I wanted Marie to spring up out of that bed anytime and prove me and Doc Green wrong.

"No, no."

"She found out Johnny had died, that's what had been eating her up since England. She wanted to see him and she gave up living to do that."

"No she wouldn't do that." She finally made it out of my grasp and regained her stance and stalked towards the bed, Doc Green stopped her.

"Val, she did and we cannot do anything about it." He explained trying to usher her towards a nearby bed. "If you calm down a moment, we'll explain everything and let you see her."

"If you're not going to do something about it, I am." she said as she tried to get around him.

"You take one more step towards that bed and I will have to sedate you." He stated as he produced a needle and a bottle of what I assumed was a sedative.

"Fuck off." She muttered and pushed against him to which Doc simply stuck her with a needle and caught her as she started to collapse, putting her on the bed that was next to him.

"I'm sorry Val."

"Cohen, what is going on?" It was Matron who had now entered the building and obviously had overheard the commotion.

"She was being a handful, and its better she's sedated now." Doc replied as he was checking Val's pulse, Matron nodded before asking more questions.

"What's happened to Marie?"

"She…she erm passed away." I replied quietly Joe moved out of the way revealing the figure of Marie in bed. Matron approached her and quietly looked her over, it wasn't obvious that she had been shot it looked as though she had passed away in her sleep.

"Oh…"

"I'm afraid she died of a broken heart." Doc explained to which Matron looked rather confused, I mean she'd come in with bullet wounds and died of a broken heart which in itself was a confusing situation.

"What?"

"Her fiancé, he died in battle. She said she wanted to see him and well…then she died."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. Thank you to all those who have been adding to favourites, following and reviewing this story it means a lot to me. It was rather hard to write Marie dying, I knew from the start of writing this she'd probably be the one I ended up killing off. I originally had her dying with Renee in Bastogne but then I thought that was a bit cliché. The next chapter is the start of the Battle of the Bulge I think.


	17. At A Crossroads

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 17: At a Crossroads

Everything felt numb; it felt as though life was in slow motion. No one could really believe that Marie was gone, and gone for good. By the time Val came back round from sedation it was late evening, the boys had all made it back to town in various states of well-being.

"Tell me this is all a bad dream." She whispered as I handed her some water to pass the nausea she was feeling for having been out for so long.

"I wish I could tell you that, but I can't."

"Such a stupid way to die." She grumbled as she drank the water. "Who dies of a broken heart?"

"It's actually more common than you'd think." I replied however the look Val gave me made me immediately regret my words.

"It's a goddamn selfish way to die." She began, "Look around us; we are in the middle of a war. We are meant to make sure these men make it back home. We aren't meant to just kick in the bucket when it looks bleak, because it is always going to look bleak."

"Val, I don't think…"

"No listen to me. Marie was a lucky woman, she had everything; a job, a loving family and a loving fiancé. And goddamn it she had us." She wasn't wrong however she wasn't seeing the point that Marie simply didn't want to live anymore. "Even without Johnny, she still had a loving family to return to, what do I have?"

"Val…"

"Nothing, that's what I've got to return to, my own family have disowned me, I've got no home and I've got no man to love me. I should be the one that's being sent back in a coffin, not her." Tears were streaming down her face and I immediately brought her into a tight hug.

"Don't you ever think like that, you hear me?" I said rubbing her back soothingly. "You've got me and you'll always have me. I already told you, my parents are fine with taking you in and…well after George died…there's a spare bed…"

"Annie, but you'll be off with Joe and I'll just be stranger in your home."

"Lord Val, are you a psychic? I don't even know what I want to do when I get home; I haven't thought ahead that far. And I definitely haven't thought about the future between me and Joe, if there'll be one." I said laughing slightly. "But one thing I do know is that you don't have to go back to Tampa at all. You are coming back to Frisco with me."

"Thank you, I don't know what I'd do without you." She murmured as she wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

"You'd be at a loss without me." I joked making her smile and push out of my hug.

"Thinking ever so highly of yourself." She laughed slightly before sighing ever so slightly. "Just promise me one thing."

"Sure."

"Don't go out like Marie did." She answered before elaborating more. "If you have to die on me, make sure it isn't just you giving up and leaving me."

"I told you I'm with you till the end of the line, that means I ain't leaving your sorry behind until we reach the shores of home again." I replied hugging her again the moment only lasted a couple of minutes until Matron was yelling for assistance for another injury. Operation Market Garden had started out so well and yet it had ended in such a failure, with so many injured and many had died including Marie. Buck and Webster had been injured enough to warrant their return to England for further treatment and Bull had just managed to survive a tank blast to the back. Private Miller who'd only joined us in England right before we made our way to Holland had been killed in action. And there were countless others on the lists who hadn't been as lucky as some of the men who'd made it unscathed.

"Heard we're being sent to France again." It had been a couple of days now since Marie's death and we'd been moved on Eindhoven, inland further towards France.

"Well I'd say by the looks of the signs and the definite change in the language, I'd say we're definitely moving back to France." I replied to Val's statement as quietly as possible, we were in one of the buildings that the army had taken over and were currently using as a recreational area, where we were all watching a film.

"Don't have to be snippy." She said as we both returned to the film, another John Wayne film I'd switched off for most of it and had little clue what was going on. Ahead of us and closer to the screen I could make out the figures of Toye and Lip who kept turning round behind them, to have words with Luz. No doubt they were telling him to shut up; even from where Val and I were sat you could hear him joking around. "Hey Annie."

"Yeah?" I whispered turning my attention back to Val and away from the movie and the rest of the room once more.

"Do you think it'll be better than last time?" she asked I guess the last time we had been in France had been bad. The D-Day landings had all been successful but we'd lost a hell of a lot of men, not to mention it was utter chaos with pretty much everyone in the Airborne missing their DZ. This time we would at least make it to the location without being strewn across the French countryside.

"I can't say for sure what it's going to be like, but I know one thing we won't lose each other like we did last time." I replied sure it wasn't going to be easy, but seeing Marie die like that, not being able to stop her from simply giving up had been the hardest thing.

"Ladies, a word." I hadn't seen Matron enter the room but she was greeted with several glares and people shouting for her to shut up. She motioned for us to follow her out of the building and back to where the medical station had been temporarily set up, where Eugene, Spina and Doc Green were also gathered. "I'm going to be frank with you all, we have limited supplies and by the looks of where were heading…"

"Where are we headed?"

"Kent no interruptions, I will get to that in due time." Matron reprimanded pinching the bridge of her nose before returning to what she was saying. "As I was saying, we have limited supplies and where we are headed we won't be getting many supplies in. The loss of Nurse Dolen, God rest her soul, means were also a person short but we will manage."

"What do you suggest we do about supplies?" I asked I looked around the room and it was clear already we had low supplies; half-filled crates lay around the room while some medical bags were completely empty.

"We restock out own supplies before we restock the men's. We have to monitor morphine and plasma supplies, we cannot afford to let them run out." She continued, "And after we have restocked, and only after, do we think about restocking the men's supply kit. God only knows the number of cases of over use of morphine I've seen recently."

"Where are we headed that has no supply line?" Val asked again this time Matron was less snappy with her.

"Belgium, to Bastogne."

"Belgium? We don't have a supply line in Belgium?" I asked I thought the Allies had successfully started pushing the Germans back and yet we were having difficulties in Belgium.

"The Germans have pushed back; they aren't as close to the Rhine as we all thought they were." Doc Green responded which brought the mood in the room further down than it had already been when Matron was explaining the supply issue. Hopefully this campaign would be more successful than Holland had been.

"What? I know Holland wasn't particularly marvellous, but I thought we were on the up and the war was potentially ending by Christmas." Val questioned although I think we'd been continuously told that the war would end by this date or this date, it was now the war would be ended by Christmas and everyone would be able to return home for the holidays. Although to be home for Chanukah, it would have to end right now, with the first day of the holiday starting tomorrow.

"Well I've heard this is the last push we need." Doc Green answered but it still had little effect on the room; everyone was still less than enthusiastic about the news.

"Enough wallowing in what was promised or not, we need to get these supplies sorted." Matron ordered as she grabbed her medical supply bag and one of the crates of supplies, we all followed suite and eventually we were left with very few medical supplies to give out to the men.

"There is gonna be an uproar." Spina muttered next to me as he surveyed the left over supplies.

"Over medical supplies? I mean I'd agree with you, but I'd say the men would rather see a packet of cigarettes than a role of bandages." I replied as I finished counting the rolls of bandages and placing them carefully back into their supply crate. We were definitely going to struggle if we didn't get some new supplies in before heading out to Belgium.

"I don't know Annie, I'd be pretty angry if I was going into a warzone without apt medical supplies." He countered as he put the last of the sulpha packets into their supply crate.

"Tell you what if you're right and they are all angry, I owe you a packet of cigarettes." I offered making a bet that I was confident about.

"And if you're right and they aren't that bothered about it, what do I owe you?"

"Same, a packet of cigarettes." I responded he contemplated the offer for a minute or two, before he agreed to it holding his hand out to shake.

"You've got yourself a deal." He said as we shook hands at least I'd get an extra packet of smokes out of this.

"Did you hear Winters was promoted to Major?" Val asked as she came back through the room after putting away one of the supply crates.

"Really? Who is taking command of Easy then?" I asked Winters was arguably the best CO we'd had, I mean he understood everyone and was extremely good at field manoeuvres. Even if Holland hadn't been a success, his determination and planning in Normandy after we lost Lieutenant Meehan showed he was more than capable of leading.

"It was meant to be Heyliger, but…"

"He was shot by a lookout thinking he was a German and now he's on his way back to England." Roe interjected as he came back into the room carrying the last crate of morphine we had and we didn't have a lot of it anymore.

"Well whoever ends up taking over, let's hope they're as good as Winters had been." I said as we continued to pack away the supplies. The final crate was loaded onto a supply truck ready to be taken to our next destination, as it began heading out snow began to fall.

"It better not stick, I don't want to be stuck out in the trenches in the cold." Val muttered as she pulled her coat closer around herself, I looked up at the sky and hoped the same. The last thing anyone needed was a cold or even worse hypothermia, not to mention with snow melting the cases of trench foot could treble.

"Yeah, it better not." I agreed turning my attention back to Val as we moved back towards the trucks currently being loaded with men. Matron wasn't entirely sure what the situation was going to be with a field hospital or even an aid station which meant we didn't have a clue what we would be doing when we got to Bastogne. Whether we would be with the platoons or whether we would be in the aid station or field hospital. Whatever the case was we were all together in one of the trucks huddled at the back and pretty grateful for it too.

"It is freezing." Val shuddered as she pulled her coat ever closer to her body, tucking her chin under the scarf she managed to keep. God only knows how Malarkey, Joe and Buck were handling it so close to the opening of the truck.

"We know." Matron grumbled it was maybe about the seventh time that Val had griped about it being so cold and she was getting less and less sympathy from around her. Roe had kindly given me a blanket to keep warm which I soon had to give over to Val after about her fourth time of complaining and now it was wrapped around her legs, which prompted Roe to crowd in closer to me to make sure I was freezing.

"I think everyone is freezing Val." I added just as Skip started up about his rhyme with socks to one of the new replacements who ended up giving his extra cigarettes to the rest of the company. It wasn't long before we arrived at our destination and were ushered out of the trucks, I was helped down by Buck who was making sure everything and everyone was out of the truck. "Thank you kindly how's the injury?"

"Still sore to sit, but better than it was, sorry again for getting hit in the ass." He replied as he patted me on the back smiling.

"No need to be sorry, at least you're alright." I looked around the place noting that the snow had unfortunately stuck to the ground…trench foot could become more of a problem with these kind of conditions along with pneumonia. With our limited supplies it was looking like it was going to be an impossible task to fully care for everyone.

"Jesus Christ." Val muttered turning my attention to the soldiers slowly marching from the forest; in all the time we'd been in Europe I had never seen so many soldiers look so haunted and downtrodden. What had happened to make them like this? What were we going into? "What the hell happened?"

"God only knows." I whispered back at her, as I watched them walk by too shocked to even move anywhere. The rest of Easy began getting supplies off of the soldiers, a smart thing to do given the current circumstances, but something in me just wouldn't move a muscle.

"We need as many medical supplies as we can get our hands on." Val stated as she began moving between soldiers and taking what she could find off of them, with them either not caring what she was taking or being to traumatised to even realise that she was taking things from them. I still couldn't force myself to even walk an inch closer to the men let alone take any supplies off of them.

"Here." Spina muttered as he passed over some supplies he had gained from some of the men passing by. "We definitely need as much supplies as we can get, it looks like we're going into hell."

"You can say that again."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. Thank you to all those who have been adding to favourites, following and reviewing this story it means a lot to me. I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a long while, I went away for a couple of weeks and then had a lot of University work to complete which took precedence over this, but hopefully now I'll be able to get right back on track.


	18. Bastogne

Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

* * *

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 18: Bastogne

It was the snow I had originally been worried about when we had been travelling to Bastogne, some might say that was a bit trivial; shouldn't I be more worried about being on the front lines? But with this cold weather there was added risk of pneumonia, trench foot and countless other illness that would become rife in the trenches. But that thought had been quickly taken over by the consistent barrage of German artillery. Trees exploded sending bark flying as though it were shrapnel from the bomb itself; dirt was thrown high into the air covering everything making the possibility of infection ever higher. We'd thought we'd seen the worst in Normandy, but it was nothing close to the hell that we saw in Bastogne.

"Annie, have you got any scissors?" Gene was making rounds around the foxholes, I was alone in one of the foxholes at the back of the line, Spina was in another further in the middle of the lines, Val and Matron were currently in the town in a makeshift field hospital situated in a church while Doc Green had the pleasure of sharing with the new commanding officer of Easy; Norman Dike. Now Dike was no Winters, nor was he like Sobel but one thing was certain he wasn't material for the battlefield. He would reprimand any of the medics being in the same foxhole together even if Doc Green had told him several times that medics work better consulting each other, but he was having none of it.

"Sorry, I'll ask the next time I go to town." I replied shuddering at the cold, and pulling my coat closer around myself. Gene frowned slightly whether at the loss of scissors or something else I couldn't decide.

"You're surely freezing chéri, have you not got a blanket?"

"No, I gave it to Babe who'd misplaced his coat." I explained I'd gone on rounds a day ago with my blanket wrapped up around my neck as a sort of makeshift scarf when I'd come up on Babe sat in his foxhole with one of the new replacements without a winter coat and shivering. I couldn't just leave him without any sort of protection from the cold and left him wrapped up in the blanket, promising that I'd find him a coat, which I'd asked Val to find when she'd gone off to town.

"I'll find you one and remember to keep moving." He said as he made his way off further down the line, for the time being I was staying put in my foxhole I'd make my rounds in a bit once, or more likely the shelling would start and there'd be screams of medic once more. It was maybe an hour or so before I was joined by George Luz.

"How's the beauty of Easy?" he asked as he slid in to the foxhole resting his radio in front of him. Lord knows how he manages to run as fast as he does lugging that weight round.

"Ever the flatterer Luz." I replied scooting slightly over in the foxhole to allow him to sit more comfortably.

"I try."

"Well I'm freezing my ass off, any wounds or aliments you got?" I asked looking over him for a couple of seconds. He didn't seem wounded; he definitely looked cold by the redness of his nose and ears. He was now sporting a beard like many of the men and his hair had become longer.

"Nah, I'm as good as I can be in this hell hole." He replied as he dug through his pockets before pulling out a pack of cigarettes, offering me one and taking one himself.

"Good to hear, know of anyone who isn't in such good health?" I accepted the cigarette as he took out his lighter and lit the pair of them. With constant light and noise discipline being active, cigarettes had become a reprieve from the cold, if only for a small while.

"I mean everyone's complaining of the cold, a few are getting coughs and the sniffles but I'd say nothing major." He responded exhaling smoke as he did so; at least there wasn't anything that was urgent out here. The town was continuously filled with more and more paratroopers who had either taken direct hits, or had been hit by debris flung their way by the near constant shelling. However the last thing we needed was anyone falling sick, pneumonia was a major worry out here.

"Let's hope it is just the sniffles."

"And how are you doing?" He asked after everything we had seen in Holland and in France, it didn't compare to this. Sure D-Day had been an awful time, a lot of casualties in the first few hours of the invasion, but it didn't compare to the cold and outright dire situation we found ourselves in here. And yet I could be in a much worse position, I could be one of the unlucky who had taken a hit and been evacuated only to the town, where there was still a high possibility of being hit by German artillery.

"As good as I can be given the situation and you know Dike being such a prick." I answered making Luz chuckle and shake his head. It was no secret that everyone thought Dike was unfit for command of Easy; he always seemed to be away from the field whenever anyone needed him.

"What's he done this time?"

"Idiot won't let any of the medics huddle up and do anything together for two seconds without him berating us." I explained no doubt Luz already knew, only earlier today had Dike shouted at Spina and Gene for talking for two seconds in one foxhole.

"If you're all together what happens if you're all taken out by artillery? We won't have any medics!" Luz put on his Dike voice and began his impression, it was nearly spot on, and well at least I knew no one else who could pull it off.

"Good impression." I complimented giggling away as he even started copying his mannerisms.

"You think so? I think it's still a ways off." He asked as he repeated some of Dike's hand gestures. Overall it was near enough spot on, maybe not as good as his Major Horton, but still it was an incredible impression.

"It could do with some work, but it's nearly there."

"Well I take that opinion in high regard."

It had been a few minutes since Luz had made an appearance, when German artillery began raining down on us. Luz and I both ducked down, trying to make ourselves as small as possible to avoid any debris that could hit us. It seemed to go on for an eternity when in reality it was maybe minutes until it finally stopped.

"MEDIC!"

"That's me, may need a jeep calling in." I stated as I started scrambling up and out of the foxhole.

"Right, be careful out there." He responded as he started dialling the radio to phone in for a jeep to evacuate whoever had just been wounded.

I darted out of the foxhole and towards the call for a medic; by the time I had gotten there Spina was already attending.

"What happened?" I asked as I knelt down next to the man surveying the scene, he was lay down on his front and across his back were chunks of what looked like tree bark.

"Tree exploded; he took debris to the back." Spina explained as he was tweezing out the smaller bark pieces and pouring sulpha packets onto the area.

"How deep has it penetrated?" I asked as I pulled out a small piece from his back and inspected the puncture it had caused.

"He's lucky they're shallow, any further in and it could have nicked something important."

"Still he needs a bit more attention, Luz should be phoning in a jeep to take him over to Bastogne. I'll go over there." I stated as we finally removed the last of the smaller pieces, there were one or two larger pieces of bark sticking out of him, but both Spina and I agreed it would be stupid to take them out here.

"Right."

"Any supplies we need?" I inquired as Spina and the paratrooper who had called for us lifted him up and onto a stretcher. We moved off towards the back of the line where the jeep Luz had radioed in for was waiting for us.

"Literally anything you can get your hands on, bring it back." He responded we were running low on nearly all medical supplies; plasma, morphine, bandages. It was shortly going to become a major problem for us to keep up with the amount of wounded day in day out.

"Anything else we need?"

"Spares of coats, boots anything would be helpful." That request was probably easier to fill, given the amount of fatalities across the companies there was probably a surplus of uniforms back in the town.

"Got it."

The town of Bastogne wasn't that far away from our front lines, and they were definitely feeling the full force of the battle. Looking around in any direction there were destroyed building, fires and dead bodies. One of the only buildings still fully intact and inhabitable was the church, in which the field hospital had been set up. The only problem with the set-up was that we had no way of getting the seriously wounded out of there, we were completely cut off.

"Anna, what happened to him?" Matron asked as I entered the church along with the wounded man.

"Took debris to the back, hasn't punctured too far but I wasn't able to remove most of the bark." I explained as she showed us to what looked like the last available space in this place.

"He's lucky." Matron stated as she assessed the work Spina and I had done out on the field, before she picked up a pair of scissors and cut through the rest of his uniform and around the pieces of bark that were left in him.

"Mm, I mean not so lucky to be completely uninjured."

"True, but I guess he's lucky enough." She answered as she slowly began removing the first large piece out of his back; he hissed in pain slightly but waved off our offers of morphine. Most of the men had been refusing morphine these days, it helped stave off the inevitable of us running out of it.

"How's things here?" I asked once we were done patching up the man, no doubt he'd find his way back onto the front lines. Everyone wanted to make sure they weren't letting anyone else down; they wanted to fight side by side until they couldn't fight any more or until the battle was won.

"As good as they can be, given the fact we're running out of supplies and space. How's the front doing?" she explained as we walked through the rest of the church, there were a few French nurses running around, a much needed help to make sure we could have medics both here and in the field. Doc Green was also running around the place and tending to those in need.

"Pretty much the same, with the added perils of trench foot, so any extra supplies of boots, socks anything would be helpful." I responded as we made our way to a small side arm of the room where there were crates of medical supplies.

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks."

"Hey, if you're just going to stand there and look pretty, you can spare a second and help me." Val's distinctive voice called, pulling me away from Matron and back into the room. She was tending to a soldier, who had taken a hit to the leg, he was rather lucky that it hadn't come off.

"There's nicer ways of asking for help you know." I joked as I came over to her side and handed her some bandages and extra sulpha packets.

"I called you pretty, what else do you want?" she quipped back as she accepted the bandages and began to wind them around the now cleaned wound.

"A please could go a long way."

"Please."

"Was that so hard?" I asked laughing as she finished tending to the man and handed him what was presumably a cup of hot coffee.

"Absolutely."

After what could have been a couple of hours spent helping patch up the wounded, the sounds of shells could be heard off in the distance before they rang out closer and closer. But the range of this attack avoided the church the aid station had been put in, lucky for everyone inside not lucky for the people stuck in the town. Gene arrived with more wounded allowing Val and I to return to the front with various medical supplies and extra clothing, which were presumably taken off the dead.

"Would you help me find Babe?" I asked as we hopped down off of the jeep and began the trek back into the thick of the lines. I'd have to find Babe and hand him a new winter coat, before finding Spina and handing over some of the supplies.

"Sure, if you want the wrath of Dike." She joked, well maybe she wasn't joking if he found us now he'd surely begin a tirade of how we shouldn't be walking next to each other, in case we were both hit by artillery.

"Shh, you never know where that man is."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure he's tucked away far from the fighting, if he ever remembers where his foxhole is." And if he heard that he'd hand her a court martial no matter whether that meant he lost a medic or not, he'd probably blame me for it and all.

"Still best keep quiet about that."

"True, right let's find him quick before the krauts bombard us again." It didn't take us long before we found Babe in his foxhole with Julian, a replacement who so happened to have made friends with him. "Today is your lucky day Babe, two gorgeous women looking for you."

"Damn it is my lucky day, what can I do for you?" Babe responded standing up from his sitting position and turning towards us.

"Happy Chanukah!" I greeted handing over his new winter coat, his eyes lit up; it was nice to see that something mundane could put a smile on someone's face. It meant his moral had at least been lifted even just a little bit.

"Thanks Anna, here I should give this back." He said as he put on the coat and took up the blanket I had handed him a couple of days ago.

"No you can keep it; you need it more than I do." I said shaking my head as he held up towards me; I'd gotten spare blankets while in the town so I already had one to wrap myself up in.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me. Now either of you need any medical aid?" I asked the pair of them shook their heads. They were just cold sitting out here waiting for another shelling or some German soldier to run into our lines so they could be called to action.

"No, we're both fine just you know, freezing our asses off."

"Isn't everyone? Best get on with our rounds, before Dike shouts about us being within twenty yards of each other." Val added as she looked around, seeing if somehow a man who was never here would sprout out of thin air.

"Right you are. I'll take right you go left."

While hearing about Guarnere's water infection wasn't the nicest thing in the world, at least doing the rounds meant I could make sure everyone was at least still alive and kicking and running through the field meant I was keeping a little more warm than sat in a cold shallow hole. When I got back to my foxhole I found one cold looking Jewish man.

"To what do I owe the honour, Mr Liebgott?" I asked as I dropped down next to him pulling out the blanket I had gotten and putting it over the pair of us.

"Thought you could use the company." He responded as he shifted closer to me, wrapping an arm around me to pull me closer to him.

"In other words, you're off the front line." I said it was no secret that Joe really had a problem with the Germans, it seemed to delight him every time he'd shoot one down. This made Winters keep a closer eye on him and he was continuously called off the frontlines unless there was no other option but to keep him there. Granted it was Joe, so he'd always manage to make his way back to where the fighting was thickest.

"You could say that, but I think I put it nicer."

"Happy Chanukah." It was the eighth day of Chanukah and thus the final night of celebrations, a year or so ago everyone would have been in high spirits celebrating back home, but I couldn't quite picture my mother wanting to celebrate this year. She'd lost a second son and her eldest daughter was stuck in a small hole in a forest, freezing cold and hoping that she'd manage to make it out of her unscathed.

"Happy Chanukah." He returned kissing the top of my head it was a lovely moment, even if we were in such a bad situation. If I shut out the sounds of gunfire and the overwhelming sense of dread, I could imagine just Joe and I sat in a snowy park enjoying the holidays. We could return to a warm home, and have an actual warm meal, sleep in an actual bed.

"I wish we'd be home right now." I mused as I opened my eyes not having realised I had closed them and returning back to the reality I was in.

"It'd be a lot warmer." He added as he pulled me impossibly closer to him, the warmth radiating off his body seemed through the amount of clothes I had on.

"And we'd have warm food too."

"No forest, no Krauts wanting us dead."

"You think we'll actually make it out of this hell hole?" I asked the amount of days we had been here and the amount of wounded and killed men made it seem like this was a battle we were about to lose. And if we lost there was no guarantee we'd ever return home, no telling what would happen if we became prisoners of war, that's if the Germans deemed it worthy to capture several companies of paratroopers.

"Of course we will, we've got some of the best in the business." He reassured his hand that had found its way around my shoulders squeezed reassuringly. And while his words somewhat eased some of the doubt I had, it didn't detract from the situation we were in.

"We've got no supplies."

"And yet we're still here."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hi guys, I hope you have liked the story so far and have enjoyed this chapter. I'm actually having so much fun writing this, and have so many different ideas on what I could do. Any suggestions/reviews are much appreciated as it is always helpful when writing the next chapter. Thank you to all those who have been adding to favourites, following and reviewing this story it means a lot to me. I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a long while, I went away for a couple of weeks and then had a lot of University work to complete which took precedence over this, but hopefully now I'll be able to get right back on track.


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